Bad weather plays spoilsport, delays U.S. space station resupply mission

The ULA launch team scrubbed the third attempt to get an Atlas V 401 rocket off the pad and into the skies at 1:51 p.m. EST (18:51 GMT) – nearly three hours before the launch window was set to open.

The launch has been rescheduled for Sunday from the Space Launch Complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Strong winds also delayed Friday’s attempt, and rainy weather postponed the initial launch bid on Thursday. Given the wind concerns, managers were considering the option of waiting until Sunday for slightly better weather.

While the Cygnus capsule contains food for the astronauts living aboard the space station, it also includes science experiments, clothing, air-supply tanks, toiletries and gear designed for spacewalking.

An unmanned rocket loaded with 7,400 pounds of cargo for the International Space Station – the first US shipment in months – was grounded by unsafe gusts Saturday. But even the Atlas is no match for Mother Nature. The preliminary launch time is 4:44 p.m. EST at the opening of a 30-minute window. Sunday’s weather is forecast to offer a 40 percent chance of allowable conditions for a launch, the website reported. Orbital ATK bought another company’s rocket, the veteran Atlas V, for this supply mission. The original S.S. Deke Slayton was the cargo craft lost in last year’s explosion. In June, a Falcon 9 rocket launched by Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. blew up en route to the orbiting lab. Orbital has made two successful liftoffs under its 2008 pact with NASA, while SpaceX has completed six. It will carry around four tons of supplies to the International Space Station.