Weather 75% Favorable for Saturday Antares Launch

This file photo from Feb. 16, 2021, shows the Northrop Grumman CRS-15 Antares rocket on Pad-0A on Wallops Island Virginia. Credit: NASA Wallops/Patrick Black

The Wallops Range continues to predict 75% favorable weather 24 hours ahead of the launch window of NASA commercial cargo provider Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft.

The primary concern for launch at this time is strong southwesterly surface winds that could violate weather constraints.

Northrop Grumman is targeting 12:40 p.m EST Saturday, Feb. 19, for the International Space Station-bound Cygnus spacecraft, loaded with about 8,300 pounds of research, crew supplies, and hardware. Launch will be from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Live coverage of the launch will air on NASA Television, the agency’s website and the NASA app beginning at 12:15 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 19.

For those in the mid-Atlantic region, weather permitting, you may have a chance to see the Antares rocket in the sky after launch. Check out the visibility map below.

This map shows how many seconds after launch the Antares rocket may be visible in the sky to the mid-Atlantic region.
This map shows how many seconds after launch the Antares rocket may be visible in the sky to the mid-Atlantic region.