Why NASA's Commercial Resupply Mission This Week Matters
Orbital ATK had been sidelined following Antares explosion last year.
— -- NASA is ready to resume its commercial resupply mission this week following two catastrophic losses in less than a year of cargo vessels bound for the International Space Station.
The company Orbital ATK had been sidelined following the Antares rocket explosion last year, while SpaceX, the other company contracted by NASA to resupply the space station, lost its Dragon capsule when it burst into flames just 139 seconds after its launch over Cape Canaveral.
Scheduled for this Thursday at 5:55 p.m. ET, Orbital ATK's upgraded Cygnus spacecraft is set to launch for the International Space Station on the back of an Atlas V rocket, carrying with it 7,000 pounds of food, supplies and science experiments. The company was known as Orbital Sciences at the time of the explosion but has since merged with ATK.
Why You'll Want to Watch This Launch
If everything goes according to plan, the launch will be Orbital ATK’s fourth commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station and its first since a little over a year ago when an explosion shortly after launch destroyed the Antares rocket, Cygnus vessel and thousands of pounds of cargo.
An independent investigation completed by NASA around the anniversary of the Antares explosion found the cause was likely an explosion in a turbo-pump located in one of the rocket's two engines.
What's Different This Time
For Thursday's launch, Orbital ATK said it plans to use a different rocket -- the workhorse Atlas V -- which has been used to put many satellites into orbit but has never been used to send a cargo to the space station.
Also new is the upgraded Cygnus, which can carry 7,000 pounds of cargo -- 25 percent more than its predecessor -- making the vehicle even more appealing to NASA, which relies on its resupply missions to stock the space station with food, clothes and science experiments.
When Cygnus reaches the space station, it will be pulled in by the station's robotic arm and docked for unloading. Cygnus will also help take out the trash -- astronauts will fill up the spacecraft with unneeded items before releasing it to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.