Liftoff: 1st US shipment in months flying to space station

It was third time lucky today as the unmanned Orbital Sciences/ATK Cygnus CRS-4 mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

NASA’s spirits soared Sunday as weather forecasters offered significantly better odds of launching a rocket with much-needed supplies to the International Space Station.

The liftoff yesterday atop the Atlas V rocket went smoothly, with no flaws or problems after a launch delay of several days due to bad weather.

If the Orbital ATK cargo ship arrives at the space station Wednesday as planned, it will represent the first US delivery in almost eight months.

Orbital ATK arranged to use United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket while it upgrades its Antares rocket, which failed due to a problem with its reconditioned Ukrainian engine. This is the first flight of the Cygnus since the previous spacecraft was damaged during the Antares rocket explosion in October 2014.

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.

Orbital ATK was able to mount a second supply mission so quickly after last year’s rocket failure by collaborating with the USA launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA), which provided the Atlas V rocket that lofted Cygnus into space Sunday evening.

The spacecraft is carrying probably the most cargo ever packed onto a barrel-formed Cygnus, with some 7,300 kilos (3,300 kilograms) of drugs, together with science experiments, prepared-made meals, a jet pack for spacewalking astronauts and even a satellite tv for pc made by elementary faculty college students.

The two USA launch accidents, plus a failed Russian cargo run in April, have left the station’s storage bins a bit empty. But the wind still was dangerously high; the launch team was hoping the gusts would ease in time for a 4:44 p.m. send-off.

Orbital ATK also intends to launch its fifth resupply mission atop an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral. Toilet supplies run out in February, said station program manager Kirk Shireman. Meanwhile, Orbital bought two Atlas rocket rides from ULA to resume work under its $1.9 billion NASA contract. But the Orbital payload was clearly needed, as it carries a replacement water filtration system and some other important equipment, as well as fresh food. Nasa aims to keep the supply cushion at six months. 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.