NASA / Orbital ATK - Cygnus OA-9 Mission patch.
May 19, 2018
Image above: Antares rocket arrival at Pad 0A of Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops. Image Credits: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani.
The Range Control Center at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility has forecast 70-percent favorable weather for the May 21 launch of Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Antares rocket being raised at launchpad. Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani.
The main weather concern for Monday’s launch attempt is sky screen (essentially local visibility conditions). Latest launch forecast puts weather at 70 percent favorable.
Animation above: Time-lapse of Antares rocket being raised at launchpad. Animation Credit: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility/Patrick Black.
A weak cold front looks to drop into the region late Sunday afternoon, May 20, providing a chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms through that evening. Shower chances diminish by early Monday, but a weak upper-level impulse drops over the Eastern Shore during the overnight hours Sunday into Monday, providing increased cloud cover and a slight chance for an isolated shower leading up to the projected launch.
Image above: The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft on board, raised at launchpad. Image Credit: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility/Patrick Black.
The Antares rocket, with Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft aboard is scheduled to launch no earlier than May 21 at 4:39 a.m. EDT on the company’s CRS-9 resupply mission to the International Space Station.
Image above: The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft on board, is raised at launch Pad-0A, Friday, May 18, 2018, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Photo Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani.
The mission, CRS-9, is Orbital ATK’s ninth contracted cargo delivery flight to the International Space Station for NASA. Among the 7,400 pounds of cargo aboard Cygnus are science experiments, crew supplies and vehicle hardware.
Related links:
NASA TV coverage: https://www.nasa.gov/ntv
Learn more about Orbital ATK’s mission at: http://www.nasa.gov/orbitalatk
Commercial Resupply: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Rob Garner.
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