Next-Up: The Taurus-2 to Orbit from Virginia

During the NASA Wallops Flight Facility Open House at Wallops Island, Va., Zig Leszczynski, VCSFA Director of Operations, Bill Wrobel, WFF Director, Senator Ralph Northam and Mike Orlowski of Orbital Sciences Corporation stand [l to r] in front of the Cygnus spacecraft that will sit atop of the Taurus-2 to boost cargo to the International Space Station from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport beginning next summer.

The Senator presented two resolutions passed by the Virginia General Assembly to Bill Wrobel celebrating NASA Wallops 65th Anniversary and another resolution supporting NASA's commercial space development policy.

Orbital Sciences Corporation is developing the Taurus-2 rocket and Cygnus capsule to be in direct competition with the SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched to orbit from Cape Canaveral last week. Both companies are under NASA contracts to ferry cargo and supplies to low earth orbit (LEO).