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It's almost time for the launch of Northrop Grumman's upcoming Antares rocket, which was deployed at its Virginia seaside site on Monday, Nov. 12, for a NASA cargo mission to the International Space Station. week. You can see this launch pad being the subject of a magnificent new accelerated video.
The NASA video above (and on YouTube here) shows the launch of the Antares rocket to Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Installation, located on Wallops Island. The rocket will launch an unmanned cargo ship Cygnus – also built by Northrop Grumman – early Friday, Nov. 16 to deliver 7,500 pounds (3,402 kilograms) of NASA supplies to the space station. Takeoff is scheduled at 4:23 am EST (09:23 GMT).
If weather permits, on Friday, Cygnus will arrive at the International Space Station early Sunday (18 November). It will be captured by astronauts using a robotic arm and parked at an open spot in the orbiting laboratory. [The Strange Science Riding on the Cygnus Spacecraft]
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus NG-10 cargo ship is moved to Pad-0A at Wallops Air Force Base in Wallops Island, Virginia on November 12, 2018. The Antares ship will launch 7,500 pounds of NASA cargo on the Cygnus International Space Station on November 16th. Credit: Joel Kowsky / NASA
The Antares rocket and the Cygnus space shuttle are built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and are part of a fleet of robotic freighters that regularly deliver food, experiments and other supplies to the International Space Station. Other cargo ships include vehicles built by Russia, Japan, Europe and SpaceX.
Most of these replenishment ships are disposable and burn in the Earth's atmosphere at the end of their mission. Currently, only SpaceX Dragon space capsules can return a load to Earth. Last weekend, Japan successfully tested a small return capsule to send back samples of experiments to Earth before its last H-II transfer vehicle was consumed.
The launch of Cygnus today will be the tenth of Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) for NASA. The company christened SS John Young, the NG-10 spacecraft, in honor of the famed Apollo 16 Moonwalker, who also commanded the first mission of NASA's Space Shuttle STS-1 in 1981. Young passed away in January at the age of 87.
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him. @tariqjmalik. follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.
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