Supplies rocket toward ISS in Cygnus capsule
A commercial cargo ship made its successful debut Wednesday, rocketing toward the International Space Station (ISS) and doubling the number of NASA’s private suppliers for the high-flying lab.
Orbital Sciences Corp. launched its first supply ship from Virginia’s Eastern Shore, the departing point for a NASA moonshot less than two weeks ago.
The capsule named Cygnus — bearing 1,300 pounds of food, clothing and goodies for the astronauts — is due at the orbiting outpost on Sunday, following four days of testing.
The Virginia-based Orbital Sciences is only the second business to attempt a shipment like this. The California-based SpaceX company has been delivering station supplies for more than a year under a NASA contract.
“If you needed more tangible proof that this is a new era of exploration, it’s right here, right now in Virginia,” NASA associate administrator Robert Lightfoot said at a post-launch news conference.
Orbital Sciences’ unmanned Antares rocket — named for the bright red star — blasted into a clear sky from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. A test launch in April went well. So did this one, with a camera on the rocket providing dramat- ic views of the coastline. The entire commercial effort dates back five years.
It was Wallops’ second high-profile launch this month. On Sept. 6, the company took part in a NASA moonshot that dazzled skywatchers along the East Coast. Wednesday’s late-morning liftoff, while at a much more convenient hour, was not nearly as visible because of the daylight. The rocket exhaust plume, at least, was visible from Washington, D.C.
The three space station residents, circling 260 miles high, watched the launch via a live link provided by Mission Control in Houston.
“Great launch! Excited for Cygnus arrival on Sunday!” space station astronaut Karen Nyberg said in a tweet. She’s expecting a fresh stash of chocolate.
Nyberg and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will use the space station’s robot arm to grab Cygnus from orbit and attach it to the space station. Also onboard is a Russian astronaut. The crew will double in size next week when another American and two Russians lift off aboard a Russian rocket from Kazakhstan.
NASA is paying Orbital Sciences and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, to keep the space station stocked after the retirement of the shuttles.