May 21 currently shows an 80-percent probability of acceptable weather for launch of Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket with Cygnus cargo spacecraft from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launch will be no earlier than 4:39 a.m. EDT from Pad 0A of Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops.
The mission, CRS-9, is Orbital ATK’s ninth contracted cargo delivery flight to the International Space Station for NASA. Among the 7,400 pounds of cargo aboard Cygnus are science experiments, crew supplies and vehicle hardware.
A list of NASA TV coverage follows below (all times EDT). Additionally, Wallops is hosting a Facebook Live broadcast about CubeSats (among the cargo aboard Cygnus) on Saturday, May 19, at 3:30 p.m. EDT.
Saturday, May 19
- 1 p.m. – What’s On Board briefing: Scientists and researchers discuss some of the investigations heading to the station on Cygnus.
Sunday, May 20
- 11 a.m. – Prelaunch Briefing: Mission managers will provide an overview and status of launch operations.
Monday, May 21
- 4 a.m. – Live coverage of the launch begins
- 5:45 a.m. – Deployment of the Cygnus spacecraft’s solar arrays
- 7 a.m. – Postlaunch news conference
Thursday, May 24
- 3:45 a.m. – Rendezvous and capture of the Cygnus spacecraft at the International Space Station, scheduled for 5:20 a.m.
- 7:30 a.m. – Installation of the spacecraft to the space station.
Three NASA astronauts aboard the station will manage the spacecraft’s arrival. Expedition 55 Flight Engineer Scott Tingle will grapple the spacecraft, backed by Ricky Arnold, and Drew Feustel will monitor Cygnus systems during its approach. They will use the space station’s robotic Canadarm2 to grab the spacecraft and ground controllers will command the robotic arm to rotate and install Cygnus onto the station’s Unity module.
Cygnus will remain at the space station until July 15.
Learn more about Orbital ATK’s mission at:
Tele-Universe.