An Atlas V rocket topped with a spacecraft carrying more than 7,000 pounds of supplies and science experiments lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 4:44 p.m.
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Orbital ATK’s upgraded Antares launch vehicle remains on schedule for a full-power hot-fire test in early 2016 and resumption of flight operations from the Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia in the second quarter of the year.
An uncrewed spacecraft loaded down with Christmas presents, food, children’s books and other cargo is flying through space, on its way to resupply the six residents aboard the International Space Station. Once they arrive, the station’s astronauts will try them out as wearable aids for in-space operations.
The six space station astronauts managed to photograph the rising capsule from their windows as both craft made their way over the Atlantic.
“The crew members need these critical supplies from the Earth to do their important work and we intend to do everything possible to enable their mission to continue”, added Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group and a former astronaut. That launch is expected sometime later this month, but the companies have not yet announced exactly when. The company has said its next mission would be to launch a commercial satellite for Orbcomm, a communications company.
The Atlas soared through clouds and, 21 minutes later, ended up placing the Cygnus cargo carrier in the flawless orbit. It is due to rendezvous at the International Space Station on Thursday (Dec. 10). That connection will be the first berthing to the port in many years, NASA officials said.
“Caught something good on the horizon”, the station’s commander Scott Kelly reported in a tweet.
The Cygnus launched Sunday is named after Mercury 7 astronaut Deke Slayton, a pioneer in commercial spaceflight before his death in 1993.
The US’ NASA agency has given commercial aerospace companies the contracts to supply the ISS.
With the arrival of its Cygnus capsule at the station, Orbital hopes to make up for lost time. (3,100 kg) of trash.
The Cygnus that launched Sunday is carrying several experiments on board, including a life sciences research module the size of a locker, a research project to evaluate flame-resistant and flame-retardant textiles in microgravity, an exploration of gas and liquid movement, and two different systems for networking small satellites or modular pieces into a larger whole. And in a separate event earlier this year SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying an uncrewed Dragon capsule disintegrated above Florida, putting those cargo flights on hold as well.
Cygnus flights to the Space Station were grounded due to the Antares explosion in 2014.
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Things are taking a turn for the better with weather conditions acceptable to a point that NASA has pegged the launch as 70% “Go”.
