Orbital's private launch may show whether NASA made right call

On the face of it, the planned mid-April launch of a new commercial rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia won't be one for the record books. A number of barriers for commercial space companies already have been broken - for instance, SpaceX has flown to the International Space Station - and the maiden flight of Antares, a two-stage rocket built by Orbital Sciences of Virginia, is expected to do little more than prove it can put a dummy payload into orbit. More

(Source: Houston Chronicle - Apr 1)