Northrop Grumman Launches Final Russia-Ukrainian Build Antares Rocket

On Tuesday evening at 8:31:14 PM EDT (00:31:14 UTC), Northrop Grumman ended an era of US space history with the final launch of the Antares 230+ launch vehicle carrying the Cygnus NG-19 spacecraft.

Antares is operated by Northrop Grumman, a leader in the US space industry, but the first stage of the launcher is built by Ukraine's Yuzhnoye State Design Office, and the engines powering the stage are Russian RD-181 engines built by NPO Energomash.

On February 24th 2022, Antares' world was flipped upside down and its future became questionable with Russia's invasion of its neighbour. Northrop had hardware from both partners for one more Antares, which launched yesterday. The United States is currently not accepting imports from Russia, and the facility used to manufacture the Antares first stage was targeted by Russian troops, leaving Northrop Grumman stuck on how to move forward with their CRS contact with NASA.

Render of Antares 330 | Credit: Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman turned to a new but mighty name in the space industry, Firefly, to help them move forward. Together, NG and Firefly are developing an all-American built version of Antares called Antares 330. The rocket will use Firefly’s new Miranda engine on its first stage with an internally built first stage.

Antares 330 is scheduled to launch in 2025 with the NG-23 mission. Until then, Northrop will launch Cygnus aboard SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 medium-lift launch vehicle which launches the companies Dragon spacecraft to the ISS.

Antares 230 has served Northrop for 10 years, launching crucial supplies to the orbiting lab through NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts. Congratulations to all the engineers and managers who have made Antares a success over the years, and godspeed Cygnus.