Orbital Science Corporation has postponed the launch of the cargo spacecraft, Cygnus, to the International Space Station (ISS) for Sunday due to bad weather conditions.
The private company Orbital Science has a contract with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to transport cargo to and from the ISS. The Cygnus spacecraft, which will launch atop of Orbital Science's Antares rocket, was initially scheduled to fly on Saturday, July 11.
Foggy weather conditions over the Eastern Shore of Virginia has forced Orbital Science to postpone the launch to Now Cygnus is expected to launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, at 12:52 pm EDT on Sunday, July 13. Weather services indicate 90 percent chances of clear skies on Sunday, July 13, which will be enough for Cygnus to take off.
This is just the second time that Cygnus will fly from the Earth on a resupply mission to the ISS. Previously, Cygnus went on its first commercial resupply mission to the ISS in January this year and carried supplies weighing 2,800 pounds (1270.06 kilograms). The spacecraft returned back to the Earth with waste and garbage weighing 3,250 pounds (1474.18 kilograms).
According to Space.com, the latest Cygnus resupply mission is said to carry 3,293 pounds (1,493.8 kilograms) of cargo, which includes food for astronauts, hardware, experiment material and some "Earth-watching satellites made by the startup Planet Labs." Just like the previous mission, the next mission will also bring back trash from the ISS and the disposable vessel will be attached to ISS for 30 days before astronauts fill it with waste.
The first resupply mission was a success without any delays but it seems that the second mission, dubbed Orb-2, is going through a rough patch before it can deliver cargo to the ISS. The Orb-2 was also delayed in late May this year after ground control came across technical problems in the engine that powers the Antares rocket.
If the Cygnus launches per schedule on Sunday, July 13, it will reach ISS on Tuesday, July 15. A 57-foot long robotic arm on the ISS, controlled by astronauts on-board of the ISS, will grab the Cygnus and get the delivery of the cargo.
Orbital Science is just one of the two private companies to have a contract with NASA for resupply missions to the ISS. The other company is Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), which was founded by Elon Musk, the current CEO of the company. Musk is also the CEO of American electric car company Tesla.
