An Orbital Cygnus spacecraft, perched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from United Launch Alliance – a Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co joint venture – had been slated for liftoff at 5:55 p.m. EST (2255 GMT). This is a nextgen ship with advanced maneuvering capabilities and a payload that delivers than 7,700 pounds of essential crew supplies, equipment and scientific experiments to the station. NASA normally likes to have a six-month stash of food aboard the space station, but it’s down a couple months because of the three failed flights.
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Orbital and ULA went contract to launch in about one year, a much faster schedule than for a typical satellite launch. The first launch accident occurred in Virginia in October 2014, the second at Cape Canaveral in June.
Editor’s note: The planned launch was scrubbed at 6:11 PM, due to poor weather. Still grounded in Virginia, Orbital ATK bought another company’s rocket, the veteran Atlas, to get supplies moving again and fulfill its NASA contract. NASA’s other contracted supplier, SpaceX, also remains stuck on Earth.
That means another attempt will be made Friday, at 5:33 p.m., from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, to send the Orbital ATK capsule full of supplies into space aboard an Atlas V rocket.
The Cygnus spacecraft for the OA-4 mission is the first to employ the longer, “enhanced”, PCM which can carry a greater volume of cargo than the PCM flown on previous missions, and lightweight UltraFlex arrays developed and built by Orbital ATK’s Goleta, California, facility.
“So we’re looking forward to having those supplies being replenished” by Thursday’s cargo mission, he added.
Kirk Shireman, NASA’s ISS program manager, who also took part in the briefing, called the failures “growing pains” in what he said was “a transition period”.
Currently, Orbital has been making important chances in its Antares rocket.
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Orbital ATK’s return to flight was delayed by a rainstorm Thursday.
