|
WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Orbital ATK, one of NASA's two commercial suppliers, will resume its unmanned cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in December, almost one year after the last one was destroyed in a launch explosion, the U.S. space agency said Wednesday.
"The launch is currently targeted for Thursday, Dec. 3 during a 30-minute window that opens at approximately 6 p.m. EST. (2300 GMT)," NASA said in a statement. "The Cygnus (spacecraft) will lift off aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida."
The Atlas V rocket was selected to launch the Cygnus due to safety concerns about the Orbital ATK's own Antares rocket, which exploded on liftoff from Virginia on Oct. 28, 2014, during the company's third ISS resupply mission.
According to NASA, the December mission, known as OA-4, will be the first flight of the enhanced variant of Orbital ATK's Cygnus advanced maneuvering spacecraft, capable of delivering more than 7,700 pounds (about 3,493 kilograms) of essential crew supplies, equipment and scientific experiments to the ISS.
Science payloads include a new life science facility that will support studies on cell cultures, bacteria, and other micro-organisms; a microsatellite deployer and the first microsatellite to be deployed from the space station; experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids and clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel; and evaluations of flame-resistant textiles.
"With OA-4 set to launch in December and at least three additional missions to the Space Station planned in 2016, we remain solidly on schedule to meet our CRS (Commercial Resupply Services) cargo requirements for NASA," Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK's Space Systems Group, said in a statement.
Orbital ATK is one of two U.S. companies that provide ISS cargo services for NASA. The other company is SpaceX, which was set up by entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002. SpaceX's seventh ISS resupply mission ended in a similar launch explosion in June.
