The countdown is progressing smoothly for the 6:22 p.m. EDT launch of Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft. There are no technical concerns with the rocket or spacecraft being worked. The weather for this evening’s launch is at 100-percent favorable. Cygnus will carry some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.
The countdown is progressing smoothly for the 6:22 p.m. EDT launch of Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft. There are no technical concerns with the rocket or spacecraft being worked. The weather for this evening’s launch is predicted to be 97 percent favorable. Cygnus will carry some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station. NASA TV coverage begins at 5:30 p.m.
This graphic previews some of the milestones that occur following the Antares rocket’s liftoff, leading up through separation of the Cygnus CRS-3 spacecraft.
This image (not to scale) shows some of the milestones following launch and leading up to spacecraft separation. Credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport are set to support the launch of Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft at 6:22 p.m. EDT today, Oct. 28. Launch coverage on NASA TV will begin at 5:30 p.m.
The Antares rocket will carry Orbital’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft, loaded with some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments, to the International Space Station. CRS-3 (short for “Commercial Resupply Services”) will be the fourth Cygnus flight, including a demonstration flight in 2013, and the first night launch of an Antares rocket.
Roughly a third of the cargo is a series of scientific investigations.
Selected Scientific Highlights
The NanoRacks-Duchesne-Plant Growth Chamber aboard the International Space Station will enable growth of pea shoots in microgravity using red and blue LED lights. Image Credit: Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart
Pea Shoot Growth in Space
One investigation by students from Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart in Houston tests the performance of pea shoot growth in space. Pea shoots grow so quickly on Earth that they can be harvested in two to four weeks. They also contain high amounts of vitamins and minerals, making them a potential source of food on long-duration space missions. Students will identify the best combinations of red and blue LED lights, which are used in the plant growth chamber, by analyzing the plants’ mineral content upon return to Earth. The investigation is facilitated by NanoRacks and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS).
Drain Brain
A human health study called Drain Brain will inform understandings of blood flow in space to possibly aid in the treatment of headaches and other neurological systems reported by crew members living on the space station. The special neck collar, called a strain-gauge plethysmograph, used to measure blood flow from the brain for the Drain Brain study, does not require surgery or special knowledge to operate. This could make the collar a useful tool for monitoring patients on Earth who have heart or brain disorders. Drain Brain also could have implications for development of screening mechanisms for cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.
Students from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey preparing for their research investigation that will launch to the International Space Station as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) with the third Orbital commercial resupply mission. Credit: SSEP
Yankee Clipper
A group of 18 student-led investigations, collectively part of the Yankee Clipper suite of research under the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP), offers young scientists the opportunity to conceive of, design, implement and analyze scientific research questions in space. The studies investigate a range of topics from a crystal growth study that will enable students to learn more about how fluids act and form into crystals in the absence of gravity to how microgravity affect milk spoilage. Yankee Clipper is the eighth flight opportunity associated with the SSEP, an initiative of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in partnership with NanoRacks.
Reentry Breakup Recorder-W (REBR)
REBR uses the flight-verified REBR data collection and transmission system to record data during the reentry and breakup of a vehicle from wireless sensors placed throughout the host vehicle, and return the data for analysis to validate reentry hazard prediction models.
A Perseid meteor streaks through the Earth’s atmosphere, as seen and photographed by astronaut Ron Garan while aboard the International Space Station on August 13, 2011. Credit: NASA
Meteor
The Meteor Composition Determination, or Meteor, uses high-resolution video and image analysis of the atmosphere to learn about the physical and chemical properties of meteoroid dust, which includes size, density and chemical composition. Investigating the elemental composition of meteors adds to our understanding of how the planets developed. Continuous measurement of meteor interactions with Earth’s atmosphere also could spot previously unforeseen meteor showers.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport are set to support the launch of Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket at 6:22 p.m. EDT today, Oct. 28. Launch coverage on NASA TV will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Antares, loaded with a Cygnus cargo spacecraft, will lift off from the spaceport’s (known as “MARS,” for short) Pad 0A, which completed construction in 2011. The satellite image below is a view from May 3, 2014.
This view of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility along Virginia’s Eastern Shore comes from the Landsat 8 satellite. Credit: NASA’s Earth Observatory; image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using data provided by the U.S. Geological Survey.
NASA’s Earth Observatory provided the above satellite view, as well as a write-up of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia:
The first research rocket launched from Wallops Island was Tiamat on July 4, 1945.
More than 70 year ago, wild ponies roamed the marshes and beaches of Wallops Island, a barrier island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Today, the island is the site of a thriving spaceport that launches several commercial and government rockets each year.
Wallops has a long history with rockets. On July 4, 1945, NASA’s predecessor (the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or “NACA”) launched the first rocket from Wallops, making the island one of the oldest launch sites in the world.
Wallops Flight Facility is NASA’s premier location for conducting research using suborbital vehicles: aircraft, scientific balloons and sounding rockets. Its partnership with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport expands the facility’s capabilities in supporting the launch of orbital vehicles.
Since its beginnings as a facility for conducting high-speed research on aerodynamic designs, Wallops has launched more than 16,000 rockets carrying aircraft models, space and Earth science experiments, technology development payloads and satellites.
The island’s name comes from John Wallop, a 17th-century surveyor and original land patent-holder.
The countdown is progressing smoothly today for the launch of Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares rocket, with the Cygnus cargo spacecraft on top. There are no technical concerns with the rocket or spacecraft being worked. The weather for this evening’s launch is predicted to be 97 percent favorable.
Liftoff is scheduled for 6:22 p.m. EDT from the Mid-Atlantic Spaceport’s Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Live coverage of the launch on NASA TV will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Antares rocket on the afternoon of Oct. 28. Credit: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility
Cygnus is loaded with about 5,000 pounds of science investigations, food, supplies and hardware for the space station and its crew.
A launch this evening will result in Cygnus catching up to the space station on Sunday, Nov. 2. Cygnus will be grappled at approximately 4:58 a.m. by NASA crew members Reid Wiseman and Barry “Butch” Wilmore. Cygnus will be attached to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Harmony node and will remain in place approximately one month. It is scheduled depart the space station on Dec. 3.
This is Orbital’s third mission to the International Space Station under its Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport are set to support the launch of Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket at 6:22 p.m. EDT today, Oct. 28. Launch coverage on NASA TV will begin at 5:30 p.m. Monday’s launch attempt was scrubbed because of a boat down range in the trajectory Antares would have flown had it lifted off.
The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft aboard, is seen on launch Pad-0A, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
Public viewing of the launch will be available at the NASA Visitor Center at Wallops. Wallops visitors are reminded that alcohol and pets are not allowed on Visitor Center grounds. Because of wind speeds and direction at upper altitudes today, the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge / Assateague Island National Seashore will be closed at 4 p.m. to the public, therefore these sites will not be available for launch viewing. The Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission has additional recommendations for local viewing sites.
The launch may be visible, weather permitting, to residents throughout the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the United States.
The Antares launch scheduled Oct. 28 may be visible to residents in the mid-Atlantic, weather permitting. Credit: NASA/Wallops Mission Planning LabWhat the Antares launch may look like from Fells Point in Baltimore, Maryland. Credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.Viewing the launch across the tidal basin from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. Credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.Viewing from River Road in North Bergen, New Jersey, looking south. Credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.
More viewing maps from Orbital Sciences Corp. are available here.
The Antares rocket will carry Orbital’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft, loaded with some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments, to the International Space Station. CRS-3 (short for “Commercial Resupply Services”) will be the fourth Cygnus flight, including a demonstration flight in 2013, and the first night launch of an Antares rocket.
The next launch attempt for Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket carrying its Cygnus cargo spacecraft is scheduled for 6:22 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 28 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. There is a 10 minute launch window. Live coverage on NASA TV will begin at 5:30 p.m. EDT.
Monday’s launch attempt was scrubbed because of a boat down range in the trajectory Antares would have flown had it lifted off.
At last report, the weather forecast for Oct. 28 was 95-percent favorable.
Arrival of the Cygnus spacecraft at the International Space Station would occur Nov. 2.
With about 20 minutes until Antares’ scheduled 6:45:04 p.m. EDT liftoff, the countdown is progressing smoothly. There are no technical concerns with the rocket or spacecraft being worked. The weather for this evening’s launch is currently 100-percent favorable.
Orbital Science Corp.’s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft will launch from the Mid-Atlantic Spaceport’s Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Live launch coverage is currently airing on NASA TV.
The launch of Orbital’s CRS-3 Commercial Resupply Services mission is the third commercial resupply flight by a Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station, and the first night launch of an Antares rocket. Cygnus will transport some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the orbiting laboratory. If CRS-3 launches as planned, it will arrive at the station Sunday, Nov. 2.
With less than an hour until Antares’ scheduled 6:45 p.m. EDT liftoff, the countdown is progressing smoothly. There are no technical concerns with the rocket or spacecraft being worked. The weather for this evening’s launch is currently 100-percent favorable.
Antares rocket prepares for launch the evening of Monday, Oct. 27, 2014. Credit: NASA
Orbital Science Corp.’s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft will launch from the Mid-Atlantic Spaceport’s Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Live launch coverage is currently airing on NASA TV.
The launch of Orbital’s CRS-3 Commercial Resupply Services mission is the third commercial resupply flight by a Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station, and the first night launch of an Antares rocket. Cygnus will transport some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the orbiting laboratory.
