Orbital ATK to launch resupply mission to space station on Sunday!

Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

New Delhi: NASA commercial provider Orbital ATK is all set to launch its sixth commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, October 16, 2016.

According to NASA, Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft is set to lift off on its Antares rocket at 8:03 p.m. EDT from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, with a five-minute window.

You can watch the launch live on NASA Television as well as the agency’s website beginning at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday.

The commercial spacecraft will carry almost 5,100 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory to support dozens of science and research investigations that will occur during Expeditions 49 and 50.

As per NASA, the Cygnus spacecraft will arrive at the station on Wednesday, October 19, 2016. Expedition 49 Flight Engineers Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Kate Rubins of NASA will take hold of the spacecraft, using the space station’s robotic arm, at approximately 7:20 a.m. EDT.

After Cygnus’ capture, ground commands will be sent from mission control in Houston to the station’s arm to rotate and install the spacecraft on the bottom of the station’s Unity module.

Cygnus will remain at the space station until November, when the spacecraft will be used to dispose of several tons of trash during its fiery reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.