Watch Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft launch

The lift-off of Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Friday was postponed “because of wind gusts that exceeded the weather criteria for launching”, Xinhua quoted NASA as saying in a launch blog.

The Cygnus spacecraft will be launch atop an Alliance Atlas V rocket, and shuttle thousands of pounds of cargo to the ISS. A string of accidents has delayed the American shipments to the International Space Station.

But gusty wind interfered after an earlier launch attempt was rained out.

Viewing the Launch by Webcast: The live webcast will begin at 4:30 p.m. EST. Forecasters say there’s only a 30 percent chance the sky will clear Friday. After that, mission planners will need to be creative about how to create orbital intercepts, possibly including a launch where the spacecraft will loiter in orbit for a few weeks before intercepting the space station.

The cargo ship is loaded with 7,300 pounds (3,300 kilograms) of food, science experiments, and other supplies.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 will launch the Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft on the initial leg of its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

“We’re ready to try again another day”, said Vernon Thorp, a program manager for United Launch Alliance, the rocket maker. The resupply mission to the International Space Station was initially scheduled for Thursday but was also thwarted as a result of bad weather. The California company expects to resume deliveries in January with its Falcon rockets.

The ISS or the International Space Station, the farthest outpost of mankind is inhabited by six members. Orbital ATK plans to return its Antares rockets to flight in 2016.

It’s another no-go for the first space station supply run in months from the U.S. The first component of the space station was launched on November 20, 1998.