Bad weather delays United States space station shipment, 1st in months

The uncrewed Cygnus freighter, which is built by aerospace company Orbital ATK, was scheduled to launch toward the International Space Station Thursday evening (Dec. 3) at 5:55 p.m. EST (2255 GMT) from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but bad weather scuttled the liftoff attempt.

Rocket/Payload: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 will launch Orbital ATK’s Cygnus™ spacecraft on the initial leg of its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). HoloLens augmented-reality goggles to assist astronauts aboard the space station. A second Atlas will make a supply run for Orbital in March, before the Antares is back in business. It’s the first launch for Orbital since the company’s Antares rocket exploded on the launchpad last October, so the pressure to succeed is particularly high.

The launch was supposed to happen yesterday, but had to be postponed to today due to adverse weather conditions.

An unmanned Atlas V rocket sits on the launch pad, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, at Cape Canaveral, Fla. “The forecast tomorrow calls for a 30% chance of acceptable conditions at launch time”, NASA reported. NASA’s other contracted supplier, SpaceX, also remains stuck on Earth. Still grounded in Virginia, Orbital ATK bought another company’s rocket, the veteran Atlas, to get supplies moving again and fulfill its NASA contract. The Cygnus rocket was ready to go with a load of 7,300 pounds (3,300 kilograms) of provisions – the heaviest load it would ever have carried – when the countdown was halted 14 minutes before the intended launch. A Russian supply run planned for later this month, if successful, would buy more time.

The Orbital Sciences Launch of Cygnus cargo that was set to deliver supplies to the ISS has been delayed because of rain and thick clouds. Orbital Sciences later formed part of Orbital ATK following a merger with Alliant Techsystems earlier this year.