High winds in Florida have pushed to Sunday Orbital ATK’s launch of its unmanned Cygnus cargo ship to the International Space Station, the latest in a series of delays due to weather.
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A spacecraft carrying much-needed USA supplies has blasted off towards the International Space Station.
Orbital ATK on Sunday launched its Cygnus cargo spaceship to the International Space Station, after a year hiatus.
Shipper Orbital ATK shifted the Cygnus to the Atlas because its own rocket, the Antares, has been grounded since October 2014. This marks Orbital ATK’s first successful mission since its Antares rocket exploded over a year ago after launch from Wallops Island in Virginia. Launch failures have sidelined both of NASA’s commercial suppliers; United Launch Alliance’s trusty Atlas V was called into service to get the supply chain moving again.
Cygnus was loaded with approximately 7,700 pounds (3,500 kilograms) of vital cargo and science experiments for the crew of six astronauts and cosmonauts now serving aboard the ISS. “Be ready”, added Frank Culbertson, head of Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group, in congratulatory remarks to the launch team. A Russian Progress ship was also lost after launch in April.
The Cygnus capsule being carried by the rocket is due to arrive at the ISS on Wednesday. Cygnus’ pressurized cargo module has been extended and increases the spacecraft’s interior volume capacity by 25 percent, allowing more cargo to be delivered with each mission.
The rocket holds 7,400 pounds of supplies, all packed into a capsule named Cygnus after the swan constellation. Investigations will offer a new life science facility that will support studies on cell cultures, bacteria and other microorganisms, a microsatellite deployer and the first microsatellite that will be deployed from the space station, and experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids and clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel and evaluations of flame-resistant textiles. The companies, Orbital ATK and SpaceX, are the only two USA enterprises that can send spacecraft to the station. The other, SpaceX, like Orbital ATK, also had to shut down its services after its Falcon 9 rocket blew up over Port Canaveral, in June. NASA aims to keep the supply cushion at six months.
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“It is our future”, Shireman stressed at a news conference last week.
