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The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus NG-10 cargo ship atop pad Pad-0A of NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. It is scheduled to launch on Nov. 16, 2018.
Credit: Joel Kowsky / NASA
The launch of a Northrop Grumman rocket carrying NASA's next cargo flight to the International Space Station (http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/english/).
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket was scheduled to launch an uncrewed Cygnus cargo ship early Thursday, but forecasts predicted a 90-percent chance that NASA officials said today (Nov. 14). The launch is now scheduled for early Friday at 4:23 am EST (0923 GMT).
The Cygnus spacecraft is filled with 7,500 pounds (3,402 kilograms) of fresh food, experimental gear and other supplies for the space station's three-person Expedition 57 crew. [The Strange Science Riding on the Cygnus Spacecraft]
"Said Joel Montalbano, NASA 's deputy program manager for the International Space" We have a rocket that' s ready to go, a spacecraft that 's ready to go, but it' s more of a 24 – hour delay. Station, in a prelaunch briefing today.
Thick, low clouds and stormy weather, including lightning, are main concerns for the launch, NASA officials said. Stormy seas could also pose a personal threat to launch support in offshore ships, they added. Weather conditions for launching on Friday, with forecasts predicting a 65-percent chance of good weather for the flight. By Saturday, those good-weather odds increase to more than a 95-percent chance of good conditions.
The one-day launch delay for Antares and Cygnus is set up at the International Space Station.
Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian. Like Cygnus, that cargo ship is scheduled to arrive at the space station on Sunday. Progress vehicles can dock themselves at the space station, while Cygnus spacecraft must be captured by astronauts using a robotic arm.
Having two different cargo ships arrives at the space station on the same day, but Montalbano said it is full of people in the crew's schedule for both arrivals.
"We've talked to the crew about it," Montalbano said. "As far as scheduling, because they're 19 hours apart we do not see any issues." The double arrival will require some adjustments to the crew's work schedule, but nothing major, he added.
The station's Expedition 57 crew is down two people after a Russian Soyuz rocket carrying two crewmates failed to reach orbit in October. The two crewmembers on that flight, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, made an emergency landing and were unharmed. Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, has traced the launch to a faulty sensor.
A new Soyuz rocket will launch three more Expedition 57 crewmembers to the space station on Dec. 3.
You can watch Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket launch live here, beginning at 4:15 am EST (0915 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV.
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.
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