Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket with Cygnus spacecraft is on schedule for a 5-minute launch window opening May 21 at 4:39 a.m. EDT on the company’s CRS-9 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. Launch will be from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
The 6-hour, 15-minute count is scheduled to begin at 10:24 p.m. tonight.
Weather remains at 65-percent favorable for the May 21 launch window. The current forecast for a one-day slip in the launch has 55-percent favorable weather and 75-percent favorable for a two-day slip.
“Weather is going to potentially affect visibility” of the launch in the region, although cloud cover can occasionally enhance views when the rocket illuminates them during flight, said Doug Voss, deputy chief of the Range and Mission Management Office at NASA Wallops, during a press briefing this morning.
A May 21 launch would have the Cygnus spacecraft scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station on Thursday morning, May 24.