Orbital Sciences Corporation's Cygnus spacecraft
will launch atop an Antares rocket carrying more than 3,000 pounds of supplies
to the International Space Station, including science experiments, experiment
hardware, spare parts, and crew provisions.
Image Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
NASA Television will provide live coverage of the upcoming Orbital Sciences'
mission to resupply the International Space Station. Orbital's Cygnus cargo
spacecraft is schedule to launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's
Launch Pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Sunday, July 13
at 12:52 p.m. EDT.
Severe weather in the Wallops area throughout the week repeatedly interrupted
Orbital’s operations schedule leading up to the launch, resulting in the company
deciding to postpone launch to Sunday.
NASA TV will air a comprehensive video feed of launch preparations and other
footage related to the mission beginning at 11:30 a.m. Launch coverage on NASA
TV will begin at noon. A post-launch news conference will be held about an
hour-and-a-half after launch.
On Saturday, July 12, a prelaunch status from Wallops will be broadcast on
NASA TV at 1 p.m. A media briefing previewing the science and technology cargo
headed to the space station will still occur at 4 p.m. today, as previously
planned.
Media also may join the briefings by phone. To obtain dial-in information,
media must contact Rachel Kraft at rachel.h.kraft@nasa.gov with their
name and media affiliation no later than 30 minutes before the beginning of each
briefing. The public also may ask questions on social media using the hashtag
#AskNASA.
The Cygnus will be filled with approximately 3,300 pounds of supplies for the
station, including science experiments to expand the research capability of the
space station's Expedition 40 crew members aboard the station, crew provisions,
spare parts and experiment hardware.
Among the research investigations headed to the orbital laboratory are a
flock of nanosatellites designed to take images of Earth, developed by Planet
Labs of San Francisco, and a satellite-based investigation called TechEdSat-4
built by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, which aims to
develop technology that eventually will enable small samples to be returned to
Earth from the space station. In addition, a host of student experiments are on
board as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program, an initiative of
the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and NanoRacks.
This and future commercial cargo resupply flights will ensure a robust
national capability to deliver critical science research to orbit, significantly
increasing NASA's ability to conduct new science investigations to the only
laboratory in microgravity.
If Cygnus launches as scheduled, the spacecraft will arrive at the space
station on Wednesday, July 16. Station commander Steven Swanson of NASA and
Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency will be standing by
in the station’s cupola to capture the resupply craft with the station's robotic
arm and install it on the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module.
NASA TV coverage of capture will begin at 5:15 a.m. on July 16. Grapple is
scheduled at approximately 6:37 a.m. Installation coverage of Cygnus onto
Harmony will begin at 8:30 a.m.
For a full update of media activities and more information on the Orbital-2
mission, visit:
For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and scheduling information, visit:
For video b-roll and media resources on the International Space Station,
visit:
For more information about International Space Station, visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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