MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. Russia’s research and industrial association NPO Energomash has successfully tested two engines RD-181 for the first stage of the US space vehicle Antares.
"Overnight to June 1 2016 Moscow time the first ground test of the first stage of the delivery vehicle Antares, from the Orbital ATK corporation equipped with two RD-181 engines was conducted successfully. The 30-second-long test was held at the launch pad of the Medium Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), in Virginia, the US," Energomash said.
Preliminary data indicate the test was successful. All systems worked normally. The test program was carried out in full," Energomash said.
Last March it was announced that the US corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation would purchase from Russia’s NPO Energomash another eight RD-181 engines for its space vehicle Antares. Last year the Russian manufacturer provided four such engines to its foreign partner. Earlier Energomash said it would manufacture another four such engines in 2016.
Energomash also supplies to the United States its RD-180 engines used in the first stage of the rocket Atlas V from the US consortium United Launch Alliance (created by Boeing and Lockheed Martin). At the end of last year a deal was clinched for providing another 20 such engines by 2020.