Weather delays Atlas V rocket launch

Apart from much needed food, Orbital’s Cygnus cargo resupply vehicle also contains clothing and toiletries for six astronauts including spacewalking equipment and air supply tanks, along with scientific experiments.

An unmanned rocket loaded with 7,400 pounds of cargo for the International Space Station – the first USA shipment in months – was grounded by risky gusts Saturday.

“Back in the saddle”, rocket maker United Launch Alliance’s president, Tory Bruno, said in a tweet.

High winds pushed Saturday’s planned launch attempt back one day. The launch window will begin at 5:10:38 p.m., with a 30-minute launch window.

A launch is also possible on Monday, if necessary, when the forecast improves considerably. In June, a Falcon 9 rocket launched by Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. blew up en route to the orbiting lab. Orbital has made two successful liftoffs under its 2008 pact with NASA, while SpaceX has completed six.

High winds and bad weather are keeping a cargo supply spacecraft from launching and reaching the International Space Station. So lots of groceries are going up.

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.

The Cygnus spacecraft for the OA-4 mission is the first to employ the longer, “enhanced”, PCM which can carry a greater volume of cargo than the PCM flown on previous missions, and lightweight UltraFlex arrays developed and built by Orbital ATK’s Goleta, California, facility.

NASA hired out station supply and crew missions to industry, for billions of dollars, as its 30-year shuttle program wound down.