NASA to attempt rocket launch, but foul weather persists

UPDATE (12/3/15, 6:42 p.m. ET): Due to poor weather conditions, tonight’s #OA4 #Cygnus launch has been scrubbed.

Thick clouds and rain prevented an unmanned Atlas V (five) rocket from lifting off Thursday evening from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with 7,400 pounds of space station supplies. It’s loaded with about 7,700 lb (3,500 kg) of food, clothing, crew supplies, spare parts, equipment, and science experiments for the ISS as part of Orbital Sciences’ Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.

An Orbital Cygnus spacecraft, perched atop an Atlas 5 rocket from United Launch Alliance – a Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co joint venture – had been slated for liftoff at 5:55 p.m. EST (2255 GMT).

A privately built Cygnus supply craft bound for the International Space Station will get a second chance to launch today (Dec. 4) after bad weather foiled an attempted liftoff yesterday.

In order to keep the thousands of pounds of supplies, science and hardware from moving during launch and in flight, the cargo is packed in bags and strapped to the walls. Orbital ATK’s Antares, with a new Russian engine, is expected to reprise its role as the company’s resupply workhorse after its next ISS mission.

But even the weather forecast for Friday is only 30 percent favorable for takeoff, NASA said, according to Yahoo News. Orbital ATK suspended deliveries to the ISS after the crash.

The Atlas launch of Cygnus will be the first US cargo mission to the station since the failed launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying a Dragon spacecraft in June.

When asked if he felt well about Thursday’s launch, Culbertson said: “We feel extremely confident, or we wouldn’t be sitting on top of that rocket right now”. The company’s own Antares rocket is still not done being reconfigured after a dramatic launch explosion previous year.

The twin failures, both ending in spectacular fireballs that caused millions of dollars of loss, made some question NASA’s decision to contract out such important and hard missions to the private sector.