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By Brian Lada, Meteorologist AccuWeather and Associate Editor
November 15, 2018, 3:20 pm EST
A rocket will cross the sky over the center of the Atlantic coast early Saturday morning as NASA launched a satellite from the coast of Virginia.
The launch was originally scheduled for Thursday morning, but a storm going up along the east coast forced the launch for later. Takeoff is now scheduled for 4:01 am EST Saturday.
The Antares rocket launched from Wallops Island, Virginia, will deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting the Earth about 250 miles above the surface of the planet.
As the launch takes place before sunrise, the glow of the engines of the rocket will be easily visible in the night sky from far away as it travels through space.
"The launch could be visible, weather permitting, for residents of the east coast of the United States," NASA said.
How to see the launch of the rocket from your garden
Major launches like Saturday morning only happen once or twice a year, giving residents of the Northeastern United States the opportunity to participate in a rocket launch without going to Florida.
People can go to Wallops Island for the launch, but spectators hundreds of kilometers away will be able to see the rocket fly into the night sky.
As the rocket takes off from the Earth and climbs higher into the sky, the inhabitants of further afield will be able to see the glow of the engines of the rocket.
When conditions are favorable, rocket launches like these can be seen in major cities in the region, including New York City; Philadelphia cream; Baltimore; Richmond, Virginia; and Raleigh and Wilmington, North Carolina.
From further away, it will appear as a solid orange light moving in the sky. It's different from planes that have flashing lights.
To see the rocket, early birds will have to look in the direction of Wallops Island, Virginia. This means that people in cities near Philadelphia or New York will have to look south, while those in Richmond and Roanoke, Virginia, will have to look to the east.
In addition, the further you are from Wallops Island, the longer the rocket will be visible. For areas closer to the launch pad, such as Dover (Delaware), the rocket will be visible less than a minute after take-off, while more remote areas will have to wait a minute or two before they can be seen.
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People planning to get up early Saturday morning can expect generally clear conditions in most of the area as a result of a winter storm.
Thursday at noon, NASA forecasters were expecting a 95% probability of acceptable weather early Saturday morning.
The generally clear conditions will allow most people in North Carolina, Connecticut to see the rocket move into space. However, some scattered clouds could harm more inland observing conditions in the Appalachians.
The weather will remain favorable early Sunday morning if the launch is delayed again.
A long exposure shows the Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft aboard, taking off from Pad-0A on Monday, May 21, 2018, at NASA's Wallops flight facility in Virginia. (Photo / Aubrey Gemignani / NASA via AP)
The Antares rocket, launched Saturday morning, will send the space shuttle Cygnus into orbit around the Earth, where it will eventually join the ISS.
There will be no crew aboard the spacecraft, but this one will carry thousands of pounds of food, supplies and scientific experiments for astronauts currently residing at the ship. alien in the space station.
This includes a 3D printer and a recycler to turn plastic waste into a high-quality 3D printer filament to create tools and materials, according to NASA.
The Cygnus spacecraft that will be used for this mission was dedicated to the late NASA astronaut John Young, who died on January 5, 2018. Young was an astronaut during the Apollo program and became the ninth person to walk on the moon Apollo 16 mission .
The next Antares rocket from Wallops Island is scheduled for April 2019.
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