Posted: Sat, Jan 4, 2014, 9:52 AM ET (1452 GMT)
Wintry weather has pushed back the launch of a Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the ISS from Virginia by a day. Orbital Sciences Corporation said late Friday that the launch of an Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) that had been scheduled for Tuesday, January 7, had been postponed at least a day. Orbital cited unseasonably cold weather forecast for early next week, as well as possible snow or frozen precipitation expected Sunday night and Monday morning, for the delay. Temperatures must be above at least 20 deg F (-7 deg C) to safely launch the Antares. Orbital still plans to roll the Antares rocket out to the launch pad late Saturday night. The launch, now planned for 1:32-1:37 pm EST (1832-1837 GMT) Wednesday, is the first fo eight Cygnus cargo delivery missions to the ISS under Orbital's current contract with NASA. The launch was previously scheduled for December but delayed when NASA astronauts needed to perform spacewalks to repair a coolant loop on the station.
