Orbital-1 Space Station Resupply Mission Launches From NASA's Wallops Flight Facility

Orbital Sciences Corp. launched its Cygnus cargo spacecraft aboard its Antares rocket at 1:07 p.m. 

EST Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, beginning the Orbital-1 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. 

The Cygnus spacecraft is now traveling 17,500 mph in Earth's orbit to rendezvous with the space station on Sunday, Jan. 12.

Over the next two and a half days, Cygnus will perform a series of engine firings to put it on track for a rendezvous with the station. 

When the vehicle reaches the capture point about 30 feet from the complex, Expedition 38 Flight Engineers Mike Hopkins and Koichi Wakata will use Canadarm2, the station’s 57-foot robotic arm, to reach out and grapple Cygnus at 6:02 a.m. 

The crew then will use the robotic arm to guide Cygnus to its berthing port on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony node for installation beginning around 6:20 a.m. 

NASA television coverage of the rendezvous and berthing begins at 5 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 12, followed at 7 a.m. with coverage of the installation.

For its first official commercial resupply mission, designated Orbital-1, Cygnus is delivering 2,780 pounds of supplies to the space station, including vital science experiments for the Expedition 38 crew members aboard the orbiting laboratory. 

Orbital Sciences successfully proved the capability of the Cygnus spacecraft during its first and only demonstration flight to the station back in September 2013.

Image Credit: NASA/Chris Perry

Antares Rocket Rolls Out at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility

An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen as it is rolled out to Launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014 in advance of a planned Wednesday, Jan. 8th, 1:32 p.m. EST launch, Wallops Island, Va.

The Antares will launch a Cygnus spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. 

The Orbital-1 mission is Orbital Sciences' first contracted cargo delivery flight to the space station for NASA.

Among the cargo aboard Cygnus set to launch to the space station are science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and other hardware.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Antares Rocket With Cygnus Spacecraft Launches From Wallops Flight Facility

The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus cargo spacecraft aboard, is seen as it launches from Pad-0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Va., at 10:58 a.m. EDT on Wed., Sept. 18, 2013. 

Cygnus is on its way to rendezvous with the International Space Station. The spacecraft will deliver about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including food and clothing, to the Expedition 37 crew. 

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

NASA LADEE Ready for Launch

In an attempt to answer prevailing questions about our moon, NASA is making final preparations to launch a probe at 11:27 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 6, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.

The small car-sized Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is a robotic mission that will orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the structure and composition of the thin lunar atmosphere and determine whether dust is being lofted into the lunar sky. 

A thorough understanding of these characteristics of our nearest celestial neighbor will help researchers understand other bodies in the solar system, such as large asteroids, Mercury, and the moons of outer planets.

For more information about the LADEE mission.

Image Credit: NASA