14 DAY TRIAL // According to an announcement made by officials at the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation, the launch of the Cygnus spacecraft and Antares delivery system will be delayed by at least one or two days from their planned January 7 launch next week, due to unexpectedly-cold temperatures at the site.
The Orbital Sciences spacecraft combo was supposed to take off on Tuesday from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, on Wallops Island, Virginia, but temperatures at the launch pad have dropped to levels well beyond those acceptable for a rocket launch. Both OSC and NASA now have to wait for the weather to improve before launching.
The Cygnus spacecraft is about to perform its first resupply mission to the International Space Station, and also its first non-test flight. The capsule first reached the ISS in 2013, but did not carry supplies. Its manufacturer is under contract with NASA to perform at least 8 resupply missions over the next few years.
According to weather forecasts, the cold spell is expected to hit Virginia full-on early next week, following rainy weather this weekend. The situation was so bad that Orbital officials decided to delay the launch even before the cold front made its way to the launch pad.
“While we are preserving the option to launch on Jan. 8, it is more likely that the launch will take place on Thursday, Jan. 9 because of a much improved weather forecast for later in the week,” officials from the company said in a statement released yesterday, January 3.
The Cygnus spacecraft was originally supposed to take off to the ISS in mid-December, but NASA scrapped that plan after Loop A of the space lab's cooling system experienced a malfunction. The launch was delayed to allow Expedition 38 astronauts time to conduct two spacewalks to address the situation.
During its first resupply flight, called CRS Orb-1, the spacecraft will carry a total of 1,261 kilograms (2,780 pounds) of cargo, including scientific experiments, spare parts, fuel, air and personal items for the six astronauts aboard the space station.
Under the terms of a $1.9 billion (€1.4 billion) contract with NASA, Orbital Sciences has to perform a total of 8 resupply flights to the ISS. Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) is the other company with a billion-dollar NASA contract to resupply the station, Space reports.