The launch of the Antares Rocket and Cygnus cargo craft of Orbital Sciences Corp. and SpaceX satellite have been postponed due to extremely cold temperatures.
The Cygnus cargo craft is on its first resupply mission to the International Space Station. The launch has been rescheduled to Wednesday, January 8, to avoid the weather forecast for Tuesday which mainly predicts cold temperature which may cause some difficulties during the launch, according to a press release.
The launch will happen at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 1:32 p.m EST with a TV coverage from NASA TV beginning 1 p.m. EST.
NASA is also monitoring the weather forecast for Wednesday, and they are mainly concerned about the implications of the temperature and the probability of a precipitation. According to Orbital Sciences Corp, the rocket only has a temperature limit of 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
On a similar note, SpaceX has also delayed the launch of LitOff, a Thai communications satellite citing additional inspections as the reason for the postponement of the launch. The satellite was supposed to take off Friday but the U.S Air Force decided to move it to Monday.
We're not aware of anything that would cause a mission failure, but in order to ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance we decided to conduct additional inspections of the launch vehicle," said Emily Shanklin, a SpaceX spokesperson, to SPACE.com.
The Falcon 9 rocket will be used to take the satellite to its transfer orbit. The communications satellite was also built by Orbital and will be used to provide Asia-Pacific broadcaster with clearer television images and additional high definition channels. The satellite also carries eight Ku-band transporters, an 18- band and is connected to three antennas.
SpaceX has also prepared backup plans through January 12 in case the flight doesn't happen on Monday.
