14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the American space agency announce that the Cygnus resupply mission to the International Space Station will most likely launch on January 7, from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, on Wallops Island, Virginia.
The mission is being prepared by Orbital Sciences Corporation, under a contract with NASA. The Virginia-based company is providing both the Cygnus unmanned space capsule and the Antares medium-lift delivery system. This will be the first proper (non-test) flight for Cygnus.
NASA TV will broadcast the event live. Launch is currently scheduled for next Tuesday, at 1:55 pm EST (1855 GMT), from Pad 0A at the Wallops Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS). Live coverage will begin at around 1 pm EST (1800 GMT).
If successful in its mission, Cygnus will become the second private spacecraft to dock to the ISS, after the Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket developed by Hawthorne, California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX).
The Orbital Sciences spacecraft carries scientific experiments, space parts, some new hardware, fuel, air, oxygen, and personal items for the six astronauts making up the Expedition 39 crew in low Earth orbit.