Launch aborted: NASA will try again tomorrow to launch the Antares rocket

NASA scrubbed Thursday night’s launch of the Antares rocket to the International Space Station two minutes and 12 seconds before takeoff due to a ground support equipment issue, but will try again tomorrow.

The new launch time from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore has been rescheduled for Friday, oct. 2 at 9:16 p.m. The launch may be visible, weather permitting, to residents throughout the mid-Atlantic region and possibly the East Coast of the United States.

This will be Northrop Grumman’s 14th commercial resupply services mission to deliver NASA science investigations, supplies and equipment to the International Space Station.

Aboard this trip is an odd assortment, including a new space toilet, research to help identify targeted cancer therapies, a crop of radishes that will grow in the station’s advanced plant habitat, a virtual reality camera that will capture a future spacewalk, and more.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will not be open for this launch.

If you’re in the area, viewing locations on Chincoteague Island include Robert Reed Park on Main Street or Beach Road spanning the area between Chincoteague and Assateague Islands. The beach at the Assateague Island National Seashore/Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge will not be open during the launch.

From the Outer Banks, the rocket should be visible about 60-90 seconds after takeoff.

Live coverage of the mission countdown is scheduled to begin at approximately 8:30 p.m. on the Wallops Ustream site.

For more information about International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station.

Get more information about Northrop Grumman, its Antares rocket and the Cygnus cargo spacecraft at: http://www.nasa.gov/northropgrumman.