Weather delays Atlas V rocket launch

It's loaded with about 7,700 lb (3,500 kg) of food, clothing, crew supplies, spare parts, equipment, and science experiments for the ISS as part of Orbital Sciences' Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. Following a 21-minute ascent, the "S.S. Deke Slayton II" Cygnus spacecraft was successfully deployed into its intended orbit approximately 144 miles above the Earth, inclined at 51.6 degrees to the equator. The SM is assembled and tested at Orbital ATK's Dulles, Virginia, satellite manufacturing facility and incorporates systems from Orbital ATK's flight-proven LEOStar™ and GEOStar™ satellite product lines. "The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars", the release added. A Cygnus last reached the station in July 2014.

Orbital ATK has three CRS missions scheduled in 2016 to support ISS cargo needs.

The United Launch Alliance announced that an Atlas V rocket launch was scrubbed and rescheduled for Sunday afternoon.

Flight managers have delayed today's launch of an Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station and reset for Sunday.

Cygnus meet the ISS at 6:10 a.m. on Wednesday. The earlier version of the spaceship could carry only about 2,000 kilograms of cargo.

In addition, Cygnus will deliver replacement cargo items including a set of Microsoft HoloLens devices for use in NASA's Sidekick project, a safety jet pack astronauts wear during spacewalks known as SAFER, and high pressure nitrogen and oxygen tanks to plug into the station's air supply network.

The NASA official put 2015 as "a hard year" for the ISS as a result of the two US cargo delivery failures as well as the loss of a Russian cargo spacecraft in April, revealing that the orbiting lab has basically toilet supplies through February next year and that food supplies would also run out on April 12. Ken has reported first hand from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, NASA Wallops, NASA Michoud/Stennis/Langley and on over 40 launches including 8 shuttle launches.

This is the first time that the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V has served the space station.

NASA's second supply line, operated by privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is aiming to return its Falcon 9 rocket to flight this month following a botched station cargo run in June. The company designs, builds and delivers space, defense and aviation systems for customers around the world, both as a prime contractor and merchant supplier.