Orbital’s winding path back to flight in Fla

A second Cygnus launch using the Atlas V rocket will take place next spring from Florida, followed by the return of operations to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia in mid-2016 where the company will continue CRS missions atop the upgraded Antares rocket.

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.

The space cargo ship that was meant to launch on Thursday has been outfitted with around 3,500 kilograms (7,700 pounds) of supplies including food and scientific gear for ISS astronauts.

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.

Its third cargo mission was destroyed in a launch explosion in October previous year.

The vehicle pair of new UltraFlex solar arrays were fully deployed as planned and providing the requisite power to the vehicle and orbital communications was established. Weather is only 30 percent go for launch. “Everything looks great in this early stage of the mission”.

“Within a few days [of the failed launch last year], we had a plan”, Frank Culbertson, Space Systems Group president at Orbital ATK and retired NASA astronaut, said in a press briefing Wednesday (Dec. 2).

In a string of failed resupply cargo ship launches, the space station has been struggling to rebound from this series of unfortunate events.

Orbital ATK will try today to launch the mission at 4:44 p.m. EST (2144 GMT) with a 30-minute launch window as NASA hopes the weather forecast would be better for acceptable conditions for launch. Atlas is adjacent to new commercial crew access tower.

Orbital bought another company’s rocket, the veteran Atlas V, for this supply mission.

Orbital ATK’s OA-4 Cygnus mission patch.

Mission Description:Cygnus is a low-risk design incorporating elements drawn from Orbital ATK and its partners’ existing, flight-proven spacecraft technologies.

Science payloads will support science and research investigations that will occur during the space station’s Expeditions 45 and 46, including experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science – research that impacts life on Earth, the release said. Ken has presented at numerous educational institutions, civic & religious organizations, museums and astronomy clubs. That’s the reason for the rocket’s debut today as a launch vehicle for space station resupply.