Cygnus Launch Success: Much Awaited Supplies Finally Flies to Space Station

This time, Orbital ATK is relying on an Atlas V rocket made by United Launch Alliance to propel the cargo ship to low-Earth orbit.

The unmanned Atlas V (five) rocket blasted off Sunday, carrying 7,400 pounds of space station cargo, following three days of weather delays.

The fourth time was the charm, with the Atlas V rocket lifting off at 4:44 p.m. EST and flawlessly ascending through overcast skies. A third attempt was scrapped Saturday afternoon after forecasters predicted only a 20 percent chance of favorable weather conditions.

The current Cygnus mission would be the first U.S. delivery of cargo since April, the last time SpaceX’s Dragon capsule reached the station.

“This launch begins a high tempo of cargo resupply missions supporting the International Space Station”, said Culbertson.

If successfully launched, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s commercial cargo flights to the station will restart, ending its dependence on Russian and Japanese rockets. “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”.

Top image: Atlas V rocket with Cygnus on board awaiting launch. Its next cargo ship, launched two months later, ended up in the Atlantic following a failure of its Falcon rocket.

After this, supplies have been arriving at the space station safely although none of them were launched from American soil.

Next up is the launch of the Global Positioning System 2F-12 navigation satellite on February 3 aboard an Atlas 5 rocket. Next stop: “@Space_Station”, Orbital ATK tweeted.

Tony Bruno, president of rocket maker United Launch Alliance urged, “Everyone cross your fingers and think happy weather thoughts”. Russia, which also lost a shipment earlier this year, has another supply run coming up in two weeks.

Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket explodes 6 seconds after liftoff, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014, in Virginia. Cygnus will deliver vital equipment, supplies and scientific experiments to the ISS as part of its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.

Cygnus, like most Orbital ATK spacecraft, is compatible with multiple launch vehicles, enabling the use of ULA’s Atlas V launch vehicle on this mission.

“This is the first berthing to the Node 1 nadir in quite some years”, said Kirk Shireman, NASA’s space station program manager, noting the relocation of a pressurized module in May, which freed up use of the port.

While we’d rather the launch was late and safe than now but exploded all over the landscape, it can be awfully hard to be patient during these countdowns!