A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket stands ready for a second launch attempt at launch complex 41at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as photographers adjust their remote cameras, Friday, Dec. 4, 2015, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The weather is expected to improve, but still only 40 percent favorable.
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Expedition 45 Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will return December 11 from a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Still grounded in Virginia, Orbital ATK bought another company’s rocket, the veteran Atlas, to get supplies moving again and fulfill its NASA contract.
Orbital’s last grocery run ended in flames seconds after liftoff past year.
SpaceX, the other supplier, suffered a launch failure in June.
The Nov. 30 milestone marked the successful completion of orbital tests of the Navy’s fourth Mobile User Objective System satellite, or MUOS-4, built by Lockheed Martin.
The Deke Slayton I, which lifted off on October 29, 2014, failed its mission when the Antares rocket booster that was carrying it to exploded just moments after leaving the launch pad.
With less than four hours remaining in the countdown, launch director Bill Cullen called off Saturday’s attempt to send an unmanned Atlas rocket soaring.
This is the first flight for the new Enhanced Cygnus spacecraft which has 25% more volume for cargo than previous Cygnus spacecraft.
Without further setbacks, space station program manager Kirk Shireman expects the food supply to be fully restocked a year from now.
ULA is hoping to launch the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft containing 7,000 pounds of supplies into space. Orbital ATK suspended deliveries to the ISS after the crash.
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It will take the spacecraft approximately 2.5 days to intercept the space station once it launches.
