The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft aboard, stands vertically at Launch Pad-0A after successfully being raised into position Thursday, July 10, 2014, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
At about 3:30 p.m. on July 10, the Antares rocket was raised to its vertical position at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Launch Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The Antares is scheduled to launch Saturday, July 12 at 1:14 p.m. EDT. The rocket will carry an unmanned Cygnus spacecraft — both provided by Orbital Science Corp. — loaded with 3,293 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station. This mission, named Orbital-2, is the second of eight under Orbital Science Corp.’s Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
This time-lapse video shows the roll out of the Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft aboard, from the Horizontal Integration Facility to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Launch Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The roughly half-mile roll out began shortly after 4 a.m. on July 10, 2014. Arrival at the pad was about an hour later.
The launch to the International Space Station in scheduled for 1:14 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 12.
Cygnus is filled with about 3,300 pounds of supplies for the station, including science experiments to expand the research capability of the Expedition 40 crew, crew provisions, spare parts and experiment hardware.
The Weather Office at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia reports that the forecast is 80-percent favorable for the Orb-2 Antares rocket launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Launch Pad 0A at Wallops. Launch is scheduled for July 12 at 1:14 p.m. EDT.
The main weather concern for the launch appears to be low-level cloudiness and a very slight chance of storm clouds.
Should the launch slip to Sunday, July 13, the current forecast reports 90-percent favorable weather.
File photo of Antares rocket from preparations for a launch in April 2013. Credit: NASA/Bill IngallsThe Cygnus cargo spacecraft. Credit: NASA Wallops/Patrick Black
The Orbital-2 mission is scheduled to launch Saturday, July 12 at 1:14 p.m. EDT from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Launch Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility along Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
An Antares rocket will carry an unmanned Cygnus spacecraft — both provided by Orbital Science Corp. — loaded with 3,293 pounds of supplies for the International Space Station.
This cargo mission is the second of eight under Orbital Science Corp.’s Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
The two-stage, 131.5-foot-tall Antares rocket will take about 10 minutes to take Cygnus from the launch pad to the spacecraft’s initial orbit.
This Cygnus is just under 17 feet high and has a carrying capacity of 4,409 pounds (2,000 kg), about the weight of an SUV. (Orb-2’s will carry 3,293 pounds of food, other crew provisions, spare parts, hardware and science experiments to the station.)
Orbital-1 launched to the space station in January this year, following a successful demonstration mission in fall 2013. The first launch of an Antares rocket took place in April 2013.
The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft aboard, rolled out of the Horizontal Integration Facility to begin the roughly half-mile journey to launch Pad-0A, Thursday, July 10, 2014, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The launch to the International Space Station in scheduled for 1:14 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 12.
Roll-out began at shortly after 4 a.m., with arrival at the pad about an hour later.
Orbital Sciences Corp. has postponed the launch of its Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station until 1:14 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 12, due to weather conditions that delayed the roll-out of the Antares rocket to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Roll-out of the rocket has been rescheduled for Thursday morning.
NASA Television coverage of Saturday’s launch will begin at 12:30 p.m.
If Cygnus launches on Saturday, rendezvous will still occur on Tuesday, July 15, with grapple scheduled at 7:24 a.m. Rendezvous coverage will begin at 6:15 a.m., followed by berthing coverage at 9:30 a.m.
Cygnus is filled with about 3,300 pounds of supplies for the station, including science experiments to expand the research capability of the Expedition 40 crew, crew provisions, spare parts and experiment hardware.
Orbital Sciences Corp.’s unmanned Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to launch Friday, July 11 at 1:40 p.m. EDT aboard an Antares rocket on a mission to resupply the International Space Station. The Orbital-2 mission’s liftoff will be from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Launch Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility along Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Roughly half of Orbital-2’s 3,293 pounds of cargo include food and other crew provisions. The spacecraft will also carry hardware and science experiments to the station.
The payload’s fairing (essentially its outer shell) is installed on the Orbital Sciences Antares rocket at the Horizontal Integration Facility at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Tuesday, July 8, 2014. Credit: NASA
Among the research investigations are a flock of small satellites (known as CubeSats) that are designed to take images of Earth, developed by Planet Labs of San Francisco; and a satellite-related investigation called TechEdSat-4 built by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. TechEdSat-4 aims to develop technology that will eventually enable small samples to be returned to Earth from the space station. In addition, a host of student experiments are being flown in association with the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program, an initiative of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and NanoRacks.
NASA TV will air a comprehensive video feed of launch preparations and other footage related to the mission beginning at 12:30 p.m. on July 11. Launch coverage on NASA TV will begin at 1 p.m.
On Thursday, July 10, media briefings previewing the mission’s science cargo and a prelaunch status from Wallops will be broadcast on NASA TV at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.
If Cygnus launches as scheduled, the spacecraft will arrive at the space station on Tuesday, July 15.
