After bad weather foiled NASA’s second attempt to launch an Atlas V rocket and the Orbital ATK built Cygnus spacecraft, the space agency is prepared to make its third attempt, which is scheduled to take place later this evening.
On December 5 at 5:10 p.m. (ET), the space agency plans to make its third attempt to launch. The launch will take place during a 10-minute window which begins at the aforementioned time.
There exists a sense of urgency in NASA’s mission as a result of the prior weather postponements, which has left the food stash aboard the International Space Station a couple of months below what Fox News reports to be their preferred six-month supply of rations.
Without further setbacks, space station program manager Kirk Shireman expects the food supply to be fully restocked a year from now.
While the Cygnus capsule contains food for the astronauts living aboard the space station, it also includes science experiments, clothing, air-supply tanks, toiletries and gear designed for spacewalking.
While the U.S. efforts to resupply the station have seen a series of setbacks since their last successful launch, which was conducted by SpaceX back in April, Russian and Japanese efforts have managed to supply the difference.
The Atlas V launch scheduled for later this evening is to take place in Florida, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Cygnus, an automated cargo ship commissioned by NASA, is capable of transporting over 7,700 pounds of supplies to the space station — that is of course, once it manages to get off the ground.
