Atlas V rocket launch try today; weather 40%

Once again, high wind is keeping space station supplies stuck on Earth.

Besides food, Orbital’s Cygnus cargo carrier contains clothes and toiletries for the six space station residents, as well as spacewalking gear, air-supply tanks and science experiments.

If successfully launched, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s commercial cargo flights to the station will restart, ending its dependence on Russian and Japanese rockets.

It was the third day in a row that weather had frustrated launch teams, following scrubs Thursday and Friday.

The launch was rescheduled for 4:44 p.m. Sunday. NASA will make its fourth launch attempt this afternoon.

NASA said the weather forecast for Sunday will improve to a 40 percent chance of acceptable conditions at launch time.

The Cygnus is returning to flight on the Atlas V after its last mission aboard Orbital ATK’s own Antares rocket failed seconds after liftoff from Virginia in October 2014.

For this particular cargo resupply run, shipper Orbital ATK will be using another private space company’s rocket which is the Atlas V however Atlas is still vulnerable to the planet’s extreme weather. Christmas presents also are on board.In orbit, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly had to endure some teasing from his identical twin back home about the repeated delays.