WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner released this statement following today’s successful launch of Virginia’s Orbital Science Corp.’s Cygnus spacecraft atop an Antares rocket from the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.   Sen. Warner successfully amended the 2010 NASA Reauthorization Bill to provide additional resources for the development of a  commercial space program and flight facilities that will support NASA:

“Congratulations to Orbital, NASA and Spaceport officials for a huge success today. This is a great milestone in our efforts to build out a commercial spaceflight industry at Wallops that leverages Virginia’s incredible talent pool and world-class launch facilities at Wallops Island. Our goal is to have the commercial spaceflight industry take over relatively routine missions to allow NASA to focus on more complex missions, and we will look back on today’s launch as a key moment in this effort.”