Liftoff: 1st United States shipment in months flying to space station

Forecasters give 40 percent odds for the planned 4:44 p.m. liftoff. Gen. Wayne Monteith, 45th Space Wing commander, who also served as the Launch Decision Authority.

NASA’s commercial resupply program was re-launched Sunday as an Atlas V rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral carrying a Cygnus spacecraft full of supplies for the International Space Station. It has more than 3,500 kilos of food, clothing, computer gear, spacewalk equipment, science experiments and other supplies for the research laboratory circling 400 kilometers (250 miles) above Earth. Orbital ATK is a private American spaceflight company under a commercial resupply services (CRS) contract to NASA. Orbital ATK’s engineering team confirmed that reliable communications has been established and that the vehicle’s solar arrays are fully deployed, providing the necessary electrical power to operate the spacecraft.

Under the CRS contract with NASA, Orbital ATK will deliver approximately 62,000 pounds (28,000 kilograms) of cargo to the ISS over 10 missions through early 2018. This capability, combined with the flexibility of ULA’s Atlas V, enabled Orbital ATK to carry out the mission on a shortened schedule to be responsive to NASA’s ISS logistics requirements.

Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital, an aerospace and defense company with annual revenues of about $4.4 billion, hopes to return its own Antares rocket to flight in May, following an October 2014 launch accident.

With six astronauts on board, the space station has dipped below NASA’s desired six-month food supply.

Supplies at the station are running low due to several failed delivery runs and botched rocket launches.

While acknowledging 2015 has been a hard year because of the disrupted supply chain, Shireman said commercial space is inevitable and will drive down launch costs.

The Atlas soared through clouds and, 21 minutes later, ended up placing the Cygnus cargo carrier in the flawless orbit.

The processing team preparing the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft for launch on December 3, 2015 poses with the SS Deke Slayton II cargo ship and twin payload enclosure fairings inside the Kennedy Space Center clean room during media visit on November 13, 2015.

“Wednesday will be the berthing day for Orbital ATK’s Cygnus following today’s flawless liftoff”, NASA Spokesperson Steven Siceloff said moments before launch.

Now, all the spacesuits, along with jetpacks and high pressure oxygen tanks and nitrogen tanks will be replenished from this cargo resupply mission, which have not been replaced since the last space shuttle mission in 2011.