Atlas V rocket launches from Cape Canaveral

Atlas V rocket carrying the OA-4 Cygnus resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station lifted off from space launch Complex-41 December 6 at 4:44 p.m. EST.

A US shipment of much-needed groceries and other astronaut supplies is rocketing toward the International Space Station for the first time in months. After getting rained out Thursday and shoved around by gusts of wind Friday and Saturday, this is the fourth attempt for the cargo craft to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.

Shipper Orbital ATK is using another company’s rocket, the venerable Atlas V, for this run. This marks Orbital ATK’s first successful mission since its Antares rocket exploded over a year ago after launch from Wallops Island in Virginia. 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.

The Falcon 9’s last flight in June ended in failure while carrying a Dragon capsule full of ISS supplies.

“So we’re looking forward to having those supplies being replenished” by Orbital ATK’s latest cargo resupply mission, he said.

High wind is once again threatening to keep space station supplies stuck on Earth. “Cygnus will spend more than a month attached to the space station, before its destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, disposing of about 3,000 pounds of trash”.

The two USA launch accidents, plus a failed Russian cargo run in April, have left the station’s storage bins a bit empty.

Mission Description:Cygnus is a low-risk design incorporating elements drawn from Orbital ATK and its partners’ existing, flight-proven spacecraft technologies. The Cygnus spacecraft will dock at the ISS for two and half days. Once they arrive, the station’s astronauts will try them out as wearable aids for in-space operations.

United Launch Alliance builds and flies the powerful Atlas V, a workhorse normally used to hoist satellites for the Air Force and others.

The Space Automated Bioproduct Lab is a new space life science facility that is created to support a wide variety of fundamental, applied and commercial space life sciences research, as well as education-based investigations for students from kindergarten through university. Instead of focusing on catching up, NASA will be able to send up more new experiments and components for the crew.