NASA commercial partner Orbital ATK has set Thursday, Dec. 3, for the launch of its fourth contracted mission to the International Space Station under the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 will launch the Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft on the initial leg of its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
A transporter moves Orbital ATK’s enhanced Cygnus spacecraft, fitted inside the payload fairing of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V, from the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to Space Launch Complex 41. The company hasn’t launched a spacecraft since its unmanned Antares rocket exploded after liftoff in October 2014.
A spacecraft carrying more than 7,000 pounds of supplies will be launching toward the International Space Station Thursday, and the public will have the chance to view it via broadcast.
In order to keep the thousands of pounds of supplies, science and hardware from moving during launch and in flight, the cargo is packed in bags and strapped to the walls.
Orbital ATK competed with SpaceX to transport astronauts to the ISS under its contract with NASA.
The Atlas V rocket has proved consistently reliable since its maiden launch in 2002, suffering only one significant issue in 2007 when a valve leak in the upper stage caused it to shut down early.
Poor wind conditions grounded a critical space station delivery for NASA on Friday, the second day in a row the rocket launch has been delayed by weather.
It was too late to squeeze in a spare part to restore the space station to full power.
With 14 minutes left, and no better weather in sight, launch director Bill Cullen halted the countdown, praising his team for “great discipline”.
The supplies are nestled in a Cygnus space craft built by Orbital ATK, which has a $1.9 billion contract to ferry food, water, and scientific equipment to the space station.
Commercial space is inevitable, NASA’s Shireman stressed, failures and all. (NYSE:BA) and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT), was scheduled to launch yesterday at 22:55 GMT.
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The first Cygnus spacecraft was sent to ISS in 2013, where this picture was taken by an astronaut. So was the one that was lost; this one is S.S. Deke Slayton II.
