This launch is also the first of the new Enhanced Cygnus configuration, which has a larger cargo module; and its first launch atop an Atlas V rocket, which replaces the Orbital ATK Antares now being upgraded with RD-181 engines.
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A spacecraft carrying much-needed U.S. supplies blasted off toward the International Space Station for the first time in months on Sunday.
A view from a camera on the Atlas V rocket carrying Cygnus toward the Space Station.
The two private companies – Orbital ATK and SpaceX – contracted by Nasa to deliver supplies to the station, are both stuck with grounded rockets following launch accidents.
Orbital plans to use another Atlas rocket for a supply run in March, then return its own Antares rocket to flight from Virginia in May. Shortly after that failure, Orbital purchased an Atlas 5 launch from ULA to fulfill its contractual requirements to NASA to deliver cargo to the ISS.
The spacecraft is carrying the most cargo ever packed onto a barrel-shaped Cygnus, with some 3,300 kilograms of gear, including science experiments, ready-made food, a jet pack for spacewalking astronauts and even a satellite made by elementary school students. The station typically stocks about six months of provisions, and two different craft, one from Japan and one from Europe, have docked in the meantime and brought some supplies.
The Cygnus capsule, expected to arrive on Wednesday, will be the first United States shipment to the station since April.
“I just can’t emphasize enough how it’s important to us, on board ISS, to have a regular cadence of resupply flights”, Kirk Shireman, the program manager for ISS, said during the briefing.
With two hours remaining in the countdown, forecasters announced that the wind that had spoiled previous launch attempts finally had eased, and the sky was clear save for a few wispy clouds. But the wind still was dangerously high; the launch team was hoping the gusts would ease in time for a 4:44 p.m. send-off.
Supplies at the station have been running low following several failed supplied runs. But the Orbital payload was clearly needed, as it carries a replacement water filtration system and some other important equipment, as well as fresh food. Russia, which also lost a shipment earlier this year, has another supply run coming up in two weeks. “It was one of those countdowns that makes them look kind of boring”, said Vern Thorp, mission manager for United Launch Alliance.
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NASA astronaut Scott Kelly on the International Space Station captured this view from orbit as the Cygnus cargo ship launching spaceward on an Atlas V rocket on Sunday, Dec. 6 2015.
