Yesterday's planned launch of the Orbital ATK Antares rocket from the NASA Wallops Island Flight Facility,Virginia,was postponed about 24 hours because of a fault detected in a ground support equipment cable (GSE) during a pre-launch checkout,the company said.They have spares on hand and rework procedures are now in process.There are no technical issues with the rocket or Cygnus spacecraft.The launch has been rescheduled for tonight,17 October at 7:40 p.m. EDT.*
The Cygnus spacecraft is carrying cargo for the International Space Station.On Wednesday 19 October,a replacemet crew for the ISS is scheduled to lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome,Kazakhstan.Expedition 49's Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko will be joined by NASA Astronaut Shane Kimbrough and launched in the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft at 4:05 p.m. EDT.They will take two days to test upgraded equipment on the Soyuz,docking at the ISS Poisk module at 5:59 a.m. EDT.The launch has been postponed since 23 September because of a technical issue with the Soyuz that Roscomos repaired.They will return in late February having carried out hundreds of experiments in biology;biotechnology;physial science and Earth science.*
Orbital ATK is an aerospace manufacturer and defence contractor formed from the merger in 2015 of Orbital Sciences Corp. and Alliant Techsystems.It is based in Dulles,Virginia.*
Orbital ATK Inc (OA)
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