Atlas V rocket scheduled to launch

The Cygnus spacecraft for the OA-4 mission is the first to employ the longer, “enhanced”, PCM which can carry a greater volume of cargo than the PCM flown on previous missions, and lightweight UltraFlex arrays developed and built by Orbital ATK’s Goleta, California, facility. SpaceX, meanwhile, is expected to attempt another ISS mission before January 8, though it will need to demonstrate its return-to-flight (and try to one-up Jeff Bezos) beforehand. Orbital ATK suspended deliveries to the ISS after the crash.

Excited crowds are gathering in central Florida from across the globe to witness the historic liftoff.

“With the naming of this spacecraft, we continue our commitment to honor the late Donald “Deke” K. Slayton, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts and a champion of America’s commercial space program and leadership in space”, said Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group.

As of this morning, there’s a 60 percent chance that weather conditions will be favorable for the launch, U.S. Air Force officials reported. Unsettled but very changeable weather has rolled into the central Florida region. The weather issue today was thick cloud layers and disturbed weather patterns. So this is the fifth Cygnus, but the fourth in the series under the CRS contract.

The Cygnus is carrying 7,300 pounds of “science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware” which will be used in dozens of the approximately 250 science and research investigations that will occur during Expeditions 45 and 46 of the ISS.

Among the contents are science equipment totaling 846 kg (1867 lbs.), crew supplies of 1181 kg (2607 lbs.), and spacewalk equipment of 227 kg (500 lbs.).

Commercial space is inevitable, NASA’s Shireman stressed, failures and all.

Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis(NEW YORK) – If everything goes according to plan, the Cygnus spacecraft, packed with 7,000 pounds of science experiments and supplies, will blast off Thursday evening for the International Space Station.

Orbital is now redesigning its rocket to fly on newly manufactured Russian engines.

Orbital ATK on Wednesday, December 2, counted down to its first space launch since a sudden explosion a year ago destroyed its Antares rocket and cargo craft bound for the International Space Station.