WASHINGTON, March 23: NASA partner Orbital ATK was readying to send its Cygnus cargo ship to the International Space Station on Tuesday, a resupply mission that will include an unprecedented fire experiment after the craft leaves the orbiting outpost.
The unmanned spacecraft is due to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at 11:05 pm (0305 GMT Wednesday), the start of a 30-minute launch window.
There is a 90 percent chance that the weather will be favorable at the time of the planned launch, according to forecasts.
Cygnus is expected to enter into orbit about 20 minutes after liftoff and will reach the International Space Station on Saturday, where it will dock with the help of the station’s robotic arm in a procedure due to start at about 1040 GMT, according to NASA. The launch will mark Orbital’s fifth supply mission to the orbiting laboratory, as part of a of a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to deliver necessities to the astronauts living in space. It will be the second since December, which marked the resumption of the company’s missions after an Orbital Antares rocket packed with thousands of pounds of supplies exploded seconds after takeoff in October 2014.-AFP
Orbital set to send re-supply mission to space station
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