Poor Weather Delays US Space Cargo Launch To Saturday

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Nov, 2018 ) :Windy weather pushed back until Saturday the planned launch of a US cargo ship loaded with supplies for astronauts living at the International Space Station, NASA said Thursday.

The delay to 4:01 am (0901 GMT) on November 17 marks the second time launch managers have postponed the mission from its initial flight plan of Thursday.

"The teams decided to wait another day for launch after assessing continuing unfavorable weather conditions, including high winds and high seas, forecast for Friday morning," said a statement from Northop Grumman, which operates the Antares rocket.

"The forecast for a launch Saturday is significantly improved with a less than five percent chance of weather conditions preventing a launch." An unmanned Russian Progress supply ship is also scheduled to launch November 17 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The cargo missions are the first since a Soyuz rocket carrying three people bound for the space station failed on October 11 just minutes after blast-off -- the first such incident in the history of post-Soviet space travel.

The astronauts on board were not hurt. Russia has since blamed the problem on a sensor that was damaged during assembly at the Baikonur cosmodrome.

Three astronauts -- one German, one Russian and one American -- are currently living at the space station, which has been continually inhabited since 2000.

The next Soyuz launch, with three more astronauts on board -- one Russian, one Canadian and one American -- is planned for December 3.