NASA is hoping the weather finally cooperates for a space station delivery already running late.
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If successfully launched, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s commercial cargo flights to the station will restart, ending its dependence on Russian and Japanese rockets.
Strong winds also delayed Friday’s attempt, and rainy weather postponed the initial launch bid on Thursday. But even the Atlas is no match for Mother Nature.
The next launch attempt is Saturday, although forecasters put the odds of acceptable conditions at a lowly 30 percent.
“I’m guessing that Santa’s sleigh is somewhere inside the Cygnus, and they’re probably excited about their stockings coming up, too”, said Frank Culbertson, Orbital ATK’s space systems president. Two private companies hired by NASA to replenish the orbiting lab are stuck on Earth with grounded rockets. Each operator has had one failed launch.
SpaceX was involved in the last successful resupply mission of the United States in April.
The Atlas V will send Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft into orbit. Space station program manager Kirk Shireman expects it will take another year to get the pantry full again – provided there are no more accidents.
Rocket/Payload: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 will launch Orbital ATK’s Cygnus™ spacecraft on the initial leg of its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
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The mission will be the first for the company since a sudden rocket failure in October 2014 destroyed Orbital’s Antares rocket and the thousands of pounds of cargo on board, just seconds after launching from Wallops Island, Virginia.
