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The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket sits at the top of its launch pad at NASA's Wallops flight facility in Wallops Island, Virginia on Wednesday, November 14, 2018. (AP Photo / Steve Helber)
NASA is expected to launch an Antares rocket on a replenishment mission to the International Space Station from the Space Agency's Wallops flight facility in Virginia this week.
Weather permitting, the Northrup Grumman rocket and the Cygnus cargo ship could be visible to East Coast residents a few minutes after Friday's launch of the Wallops' Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. "If the sky is clear, the launch should be visible for much of the east coast," said the Facility in a Facebook publication.
The unmanned cargo ship Cygnus will carry 7,500 books of groceries, computer equipment and research equipment.
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One of the scientific experiments on board will explore how the universe has formed from star dust. Another will explore the pathology of Parkinson's disease. Another is the sustainable manufacture and repair of plastic materials during long space missions.
The launch window opens at 16:23 EST Friday. NASA initially planned to launch the rocket 24 hours earlier, but was forced to push it back due to adverse weather conditions.
"The current Wallops forecast for November 15 was 90% unfavorable for launch, with the main concerns being thick clouds, disrupted weather and low ceilings," Northrop Grumman said in a blog on Wednesday. "Heavy rainfall (1-2 inches) and high wind gusts (45-50 mph) are expected."
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Weather conditions could still affect Friday's launch. While precipitation is expected to decline on Friday morning, strong northwesterly winds are still expected during the launch window. A streamlined launch would bring the resupply mission to Saturday.
"Conditions are expected to become quite favorable for a Saturday morning launch with high-pressure vessels in the southeastern United States and the east coast, providing lighter winds and generally clear skies," said Northrop Grumman in a statement. blog. "However, the system is expected to impact the Wallops region on Thursday and drag a strong front to Bermuda on Friday early Saturday, resulting in potentially heavy rains and high winds before the launch window."
The space station's replenishment mission is the first since the sluggish launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan on 11 October. A Russian space investigation accused a damaged sensor of forcing the rocket to halt its trip only two minutes after its launch.
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Astronaut Nick Hague of NASA and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin escaped dramatically shortly after the launch of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Later Friday, Russia also plans to launch its own replenishment mission to the ISS.
Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
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