Private Cygnus Spacecraft with NASA Cargo Makes 2nd Launch Try Today

The Cygnus spacecraft will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The preliminary launch time is 4:44 p.m. EST at the opening of a 30-minute window.

Cygnus, an automated cargo ship commissioned by NASA, is capable of transporting over 7,700 pounds of supplies to the space station – that is of course, once it manages to get off the ground.

For the second day in a row, poor weather stalled a critical space station delivery for NASA on Friday.

Once again, high wind is keeping space station supplies stuck on Earth.

Launch director Bill Cullen called off the attempt three hours in advance.

The next try – No. 4 – comes Sunday afternoon. The issue that caused the flight’s delay was the same as yesterdays – very high winds that were forecasted for later today. Sunday’s weather is slightly better, but still only a 40 percent chance of acceptable conditions. The space agency’s commercial partner, Orbital ATK, has a $1,9 billion agreement with NASA to conduct 10 such cargo runs to the orbiting laboratory.

Today’s launch will mark Orbital ATK’s fourth cargo launch for NASA and the first Cygnus flight since October 2014, when one of the company’s Antares rockets that normally carries the vehicles exploded just after liftoff, destroying its Cygnus payload.

“It appears that maybe Mother Nature has played tricks on us once again”, reported NASA launch commentator Mike Curie. Christmas presents also are on board. The picture books are part of an astronaut-in-space reading program for children.

In orbit, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly had to endure some teasing from his identical twin back home about the repeated delays.