Orbital ATK resupply mission to International Space Station launched

Liftoff of the ULA Atlas 5 rocket is slated for 5:55 p.m. EST (2255 GMT) on Thursday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The Orbital ATK launch originally was scheduled for Thursday evening, but rain and heavy cloud cover forced postponement.

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). The Orbital aims to deliver a total of 44,000 pounds worth of cargo to the International Space Stations as per the contract in 8 deliveries however, the explosion and resultant failiure of the resupply mission in 2014 might create difficulties to make 8 trips by the end of 2016.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — For the second day in a row, foul weather threatens to stall a critical space station delivery for NASA.

Orbital ATK’s Cygnus is hauling almost 4 tons of suppliesto the International Space Station as part of a $1.9 billion deal with NASA.

It was not immediately announced when the next launch attempt would be if the weather does not cooperate again Friday evening. The spaceship was scheduled to launch on Thursday, but now the next opportunity will be on Friday.

The United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V – a mighty successor of the rocket used to put John Glenn in orbit in 1962 – has never been used before on a space station mission.

You can watch coverage of the Cygnus launch starting at 4:30 p.m. ET directly through NASA TV or in the window embedded below. NASA’s other contracted supplier, SpaceX, also remains stuck on Earth.

It will be interesting to see if the space spacecraft takes off on Friday as current weather forecasts have predicted only 30% chances of favorable weather conditions. 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 last successful US supply run was in April. The ban does not affect commercial and civilian government customers like the US space agency, but it will keep Orbital from offering Antares as launcher for USA military satellites.

Russian Federation also lost a supply ship earlier this year.