The Cygnus spacecraft launches atop an Antares rocket. (Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)
Earlier today, an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket successfully launched from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Atop the rocket was one of the company's Cygnus craft, loaded with over 3,600 pounds of supplies and scientific equipment for the International Space Station.
The successful launch marks the third successful launch for Orbital Sciences to the space station. It's also the second one being completed under the company's $1.9 billion contract with NASA to provide eight loads of cargo to the station through 2016.
The Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the station at 6:39am Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 16. At that point, Steve Swanson of NASA and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency will use the station's robotic arm to berth the spacecraft. The station's crew will then begin unloading the equipment.
Included in the cargo are 15 science experiments designed by 99 middle, elementary and high school students, as well as 10 other university and commercial experiments. The student experiments were prepared by Nanoracks, which also has 32 of its customers' cubesats on board the Cygnus. The cubesats will be deployed into orbit through Nanoracks' smallsat deployment system, which is located on board the station.
'Today's mission was the fourth successful launch of Antares in the past 15 months and the third deployment of Cygnus in less than a year,' Orbital's President and CEO David W. Thompson said in a statement. 'So far, our second operational CRS mission is off to a great start with Cygnus operating exactly as anticipated at this early stage of the mission. We are very pleased to be a reliable partner with NASA to meet their need for reliable, regularly scheduled cargo resupply for the ISS.'
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Read my Forbes blog here. Entities 0 Name: Cygnus Count: 6 1 Name: NASA Count: 3 2 Name: Antares Count: 2 3 Name: Nanoracks Count: 2 4 Name: Orbital Count: 1 5 Name: Orbital Sciences Antares Count: 1 6 Name: NASA\/Bill Ingalls Count: 1 7 Name: Wallops Count: 1 8 Name: Orbital Sciences Count: 1 9 Name: David W. Thompson Count: 1 10 Name: Virginia Count: 1 11 Name: Alexander Gerst Count: 1 12 Name: European Space Agency Count: 1 13 Name: Eastern Time Count: 1 14 Name: Steve Swanson Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1nsd7Xr Title: Private US Cargo Ship Launching to Space Station Today: Watch It Live Description: WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. - After a series of delays, a robotic spacecraft built by the private company Orbital Sciences is counting down to launch today (July 13) on a mission to deliver experiments and supplies to the astronauts living aboard International Space Station. You can watch the launch live on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV.
