United States cargo ship launch on Sunday

It will arrive in three days.

Just before liftoff, Bruno urged, “Everyone cross your fingers and think happy weather thoughts”. This view shows the Cygnus, named the SS Deke Slayton II, and twin payload enclosure fairings inside the Kennedy Space Center clean room. Ecstatic launch controllers applauded, shook hands and hugged one another.

“I’m guessing that Santa’s sleigh is somewhere inside the Cygnus, and they’re probably excited about their stockings coming up, too”, said Frank Culbertson, Orbital ATK’s space systems president.

With more than a century of combined heritage, United Launch Alliance is the nation’s most experienced and reliable launch service Provider.

Technical issues came up around the four-hour mark in the countdown, pushing the launch time to 5:33 p.m., the last possible moment for the day. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who commands the station and is in the midst of a one-year mission in space, is Lindgren’s backup. NASA is paying Orbital ATK $1.9 billion for eight such resupply missions, but the company had to shut down its service 14 months ago when its Antares rocket blew up over a launch pad in Virginia.

If the Cygnus were to again fail at reaching the outpost and if no other vehicles were able to be launched, then the station’s crew members would begin consuming their food reserves in February and would ultimately run out of meals on April 12.

NASA announced on Thursday that the scheduled resupply mission involving the Cygnus freighter spacecraft has been delayed because of unfavorable weather.

That drought has strained supplies of food, toiletries and spare parts on the space station, adding to the importance of Sunday’s launch and others to follow.

Launch schematic for OA-4 from launch to interception with the International Space Station.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Wind remained a concern Sunday for a space station delivery mission that’s already running late. Normally used for hefty satellite launches, it is the mighty successor to the Atlas used to put John Glenn into orbit in 1962. Boeing plans to use the Atlas V to launch its commercial crew spacecraft for NASA, the Starliner, as early as 2017. The vehicle is also carrying Microsoft HoloLens headsets that will let experts on Earth help station crewmembers with complicated tasks (originally set to be sent on the failed SpaceX Dragon cargo ship launch in June) and a safety jetpack for spacewalks.