NASA is highly anticipating for its commercial cargo supply to be in transit again as two suppliers are grounded from the launch accidents that led to explosions in 2014, and now, the space station is in need of restocking supplies such as food and water. Lousy weather already has resulted in a pair of back-to-back launch delays.
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NASA Television will provide complete coverage Friday, Dec. 11 of the departure of three crew members from the International Space Station and their return to Earth beginning at 1 a.m. EST.
The next try – No. 4 – comes Sunday afternoon.
The next launch attempt is Saturday, although forecasters put the odds of acceptable conditions at a lowly 30 percent. But even the Atlas is no match for Mother Nature.
Awaiting a 4:44 p.m. liftoff, the rocket holds 7,400 pounds of supplies, all packed into a capsule named Cygnus after the swan constellation.
While the US efforts to resupply the station have seen a series of setbacks since their last successful launch, which was conducted by SpaceX back in April, Russian and Japanese efforts have managed to supply the difference. Orbital ATK bought another company’s rocket, the veteran Atlas V, for this supply mission.
The United Launch Alliance announced that an Atlas V rocket launch was scrubbed and rescheduled for Sunday afternoon.
Kelly is making NASA’s first yearlong mission.
The mission also marks Orbital’s first launch from Florida, and the first cargo mission to the ISS from American soil since SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was lost in June.
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The launch of an Orbital ATK Inc. spacecraft laden with supplies for the International Space Station was scrapped for a third straight day due to strong winds.
