Orb-1 Mission Successfully Launched – UPDATE
UPDATE, January 12, 2014: Cygnus arrived at the ISS this morning as scheduled. It was grappled by Canadarm 2 at 6:08 am EST and attached to the Harmony module at 8:05 am EST.
ORIGINAL STORY, January 9, 2014: Orbital Sciences Corporation’s first operational cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) lifted off on time today from Wallops Island, VA.
The mission, called Orb-1 for Orbital’s first flight under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract, had been delayed from December so astronauts on the ISS could focus instead on repairing a coolant loop, and then by one day due to frigid weather at the launch site and another day because of “space weather” — a solar flare that increased the solar radiation level in space.
Today’s liftoff was on time at 1:07 pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the coast of Virginia. It is taking 2,780 pounds of supplies and scientific experiments to the ISS. Arrival at and berthing to the ISS is expected on Sunday morning EST. Grapple by the ISS robotic arm is scheduled for 6:02 am EST and installation onto the Harmony module at about 7:00 am EST.
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