14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the American space agency say that NASA TV will broadcast the launch of the latest private resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) live later this month. The flight will be carried out by the Cygnus space capsule, which is designed and built by Orbital Sciences Corporation.
The spacecraft was developed under a $1.3 billion (€941 million) contract OSC signed with NASA a few years ago, and took its maiden demonstrator flight to the orbital facility this September. The upcoming launch will be the first resupply flight under the contract.
The Cygnus capsule is scheduled to take off aboard an Antares rocket on December 18, 2013, from Launch Pad 0A at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, in Virginia. Takeoff is tentatively scheduled for 9:42 pm EST on Wednesday (0242 GMT December 19).
If successful, the capsule will arrive at the ISS on December 21. NASA TV will begin its coverage of the launch at 9:15 pm EST (0215 GMT Thursday). A new series of broadcasts will occur as the capsule docks to the station, at 4:45 am (0945 GMT), on December 21.