Bad weather delays USA space station shipment, 1st in months

An unmanned Atlas V rocket sits on the launch pad, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Today, the Cygnus spacecraft will be carried by an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41, toward the International Space Station. Current weather forecasts predict just a 30 percent chance of good conditions on Friday.

Launch Notes: OA-4 will mark the 60th launch of the Atlas V and the 30th launch in the 401 configuration.

Perched on top of the rocket is Orbital’s fourth Cygnus spacecraft, an upgraded capsule filled with more than 7,700 pounds (3,500 kg) of food, supplies and science experiments for the station.

“We are very proud to be back in this position of getting ready to launch supplies to the International Space Station again”, Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group, told a prelaunch news conference.

Much-needed food is inside Orbital’s cargo carrier, named Cygnus after the swan constellation.

In the wake of the failure, Orbital managers chose to discard the 1970s-era Russian engines used in the five Antares rockets launched to that point and to replace them with state-of-the-art RD-181 engines, also built in Russia.

For Thursday’s launch, Orbital ATK said it plans to use a different rocket – the workhorse Atlas V – which has been used to put many satellites into orbit but has never been used to send a cargo to the space station.

Cygnus is on a mission to deliver 3,300 kiligrams (almost 6,614 pounds) of supplies to the International Space Station. Slayton is carrying over 3 tons of equipment and supplies for the astronauts on ISS.

Orbital’s last grocery run ended in a fiery explosion seconds after liftoff in October 2014.

The last successful USA supply run was in April.

While the astronauts are not in any danger due to low cargo, the Antares explosion, a Russian Progress vehicle accident and a SpaceX Falcon 9 failure cut off multiple ways to bring material to the Space Station.

The Cygnus is owned by private aerospace company Orbital ATK.

The partnership is changing the way NASA does business, helping build a strong American commercial space industry and freeing the agency to focus on developing the next-generation rocket and spacecraft that will enable humans to travel farther in space than ever before.