Tomorrow a privately owned spacecraft will set off to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), the endeavor could pave the way for an extraterrestrial "parcel service."
The launch of a spacecraft called Cygnus (attached to a launch rocket called Antares) will take place between 10:50 a.m. and 11:50 a.m. EDT, a PR news wire press release reported.
"Antares is the largest and most complex rocket Orbital has ever produced," David W. Thompson, Orbital's President and Chief Executive Officer, said in a new release. "After its flawless inaugural flight in April, we have been actively preparing for this next critical, much-anticipated milestone. Likewise, Cygnus is one of the most sophisticated spacecraft Orbital has developed and built. As an integral part of the Space Station program, it meets NASA's requirements for a human-rated level of safety. Our engineering and operations teams are very excited to be on the threshold of launching and conducting this mission, which they have been working toward for the last five years."
If all goes well with this mission, the company will start delivering goodies to the ISS regularly starting this December.
The Antares medium-class launch vehicle, which will launch Wednesday morning, will allow for "a major increase in the payload launch capability that Orbital can provide to NASA, the U.S. Air Force and commercial customers," the press release reported.
The craft has the ability to deliver goods weighing up to 14,000 pounds into low-Earth orbit, and can send lighter cargo into higher levels of orbit.
"This is one of the most exciting things that is happening in the middle of a very exiting month for Orbital, for NASA and for space programs around the world," Frank Culbertson, the company's executive vice president and a former space shuttle commander, said in a news conference, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"We're happy to be the focus of attention for today and tomorrow," he said. "Launching Antares ... is going to be a major step in our program."
