Weather conditions remain iffy for the launch of a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401 rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
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“We are very proud to be back in this position of getting ready to launch supplies to the International Space Station again”, Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group, told a prelaunch news conference.
Should the spacecraft take flight on Friday, the ISS will receive about 7,300 pounds of supplies including; experiments, food, and other necessities for astronauts.
The Virginia-based Orbital purchased two United Launch Alliance rockets to fulfil its shipment obligations to NASA.
A little over a year after its third resupply mission for NASA suffered a launch failure, Orbital ATK returns with an enhanced Cygnus spacecraft.
That’s because in 2014, an Orbital mission to the space station failed spectacularly after the refurbished Russian engine in its Antares rocket exploded.
Clouds and showers at Cape Canaveral, Florida, kept the Atlas from launching when the 30-minute window opened at 5:55 p.m. Eastern time.
Orbital, which already had planned to outfit Antares with new engines, grounded the rocket and quickly settled on a new supplier, Russia’s NPO Energomash, the same company that supplies the RD-180 engines that power ULA’s Atlas rocket. 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.
The most recent prior United States commercial resupply mission to the station, by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in June, also ended in an explosion. Ken has reported first hand from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, NASA Wallops, NASA Michoud/Stennis/Langley and on over 40 launches including 8 shuttle launches. Atlas V will be the fourth of these.
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The Cygnus capsule is named after Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton, a commercial space pioneer. The first three – a test flight followed by two actual deliveries to the space station – went off without a hitch. The Twins study seeks to understand how a body in space differs from a similar body on Earth.
