Orbital Sciences Corporation history

The year 1985 saw the company's design, development, and marketing efforts for the TOS Vehicle move into high gear, with 25 employees and $3 million in revenues.

In 1986, the company moved to a new headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, and NASA signed a $35 million contract for the first TOS Vehicle and an option for a second.

In 1987, Antonio Elias conceived of a revolutionary, air-launched rocket, later named Pegasus in an employee contest, designed to place small satellites into low-Earth orbit.

In 1988, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) signed the DARPA Pegasus Contract, the first Pegasus contract for the purchase of one Pegasus launch vehicle with an option for an additional five launches for approximately $36.3 million.

In addition, the company won numerous awards in 1989, including the DARPA Outstanding Technical Performance Award, the American Astronautical Society Space Commerce Award, and the Space Foundation Commercial Space Award.

In 1990, Orbital Sciences Corporation faced some of its largest and most significant challenges since the company was founded.

In 1991, the company was established as the preeminent supplier of small launch vehicles by winning an $80 million NASA contract for Pegasus launches and another launch contract from the United States Air Force that included up to 40 Pegasus launches.

Of the company's ten space missions in 1992 (bringing the number of successfully completed missions to 27 in three years of launch operations), five involved new vehicles, a very high proportion for the industry.

The first was Orbital Imaging Corporation (ORBIMAGE), to consolidate the company's Earth-viewing satellite remote sensing initiatives, including the SeaStar ocean color monitoring service, which began service in 1993.

The company employee base grew to 2,700 and revenues were at $364 million, a jump of 21 percent over 1994.

Major Goal Achieved in 1995

In the summer of 1996, NASA contracted with Orbital Sciences Corp. to design, build, and test-fly the X-34, a small, reusable technology demonstrator for a launch vehicle.

On June 29, 1999, the prototype test version of the X-34 made its first captive-carry flight attached to the belly of its newly modified L-1011 carrier aircraft.

The electronics business of this subsidiary was later sold off in 2000.

The X-34 was intended to fly at Mach 8 and to reach an altitude of 250,000 feet, but in 2001 NASA ceased funding the program.

In 2006, Orbital conducted its 500th mission since the company's founding with products that included satellites, launch vehicles, and missile defense systems.

In 2007, the first interplanetary spacecraft built by Orbital, Dawn was launched on an eight-year, three-billion-mile journey to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

In 2010, Orbital acquired the Gilbert, Arizona-based satellite development and manufacturing unit from General Dynamics (General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, formerly Spectrum Astro) to complement its main satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, Virginia.

…March 4, 2011, on a Orbital Sciences Taurus XL launch vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base (later Vandenberg Space Force Base) in California.

Op 29 april 2014 liet Orbital weten dat ze zou fuseren met Alliant Techsystems.

The merger was completed on 9 February 2015 and Orbital Sciences ceased to exist as an independent entity.

On 18 September 2017, Northrop Grumman announced plans to purchase Orbital ATK for US$7.8 billion in cash plus assumption of US$1.4 billion in debt.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the acquisition with conditions on 5 June 2018, and one day later, Orbital ATK were absorbed and became Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.