Orbital ATK is launching its OA-9E Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station:
Early risers on the US East Coast might get a bit of a show tomorrow morning: private space company Orbital ATK will launch its Antares rocket with a Cygnus spacecraft at 4:39 AM EDT [08:39 UTC] from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The mission is the company's ninth flight for NASA, and is headed to the International Space Station, where it will drop off a 7,400 pounds of scientific equipment and supplies when it docks on Thursday, May 24th.
Alongside CubeSats, the Cold Atom Laboratory, and other cargo, the rocket will carry seeds for Plant Habitat-01, which will evaluate several types of Arabidopsis:
This time, the astronauts will plant six different types of Arabidopsis, a flowering plant that's closely related to cabbage and mustard. Five of the plant varieties have been genetically altered, either to affect they way the plants capture carbon or affect their ability to produce lignin, a fibrous substance that provides structural support for plants. The same varieties will be grown under Earth-gravity conditions at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
After several weeks of growth, the zero-G plants will be harvested and shipped back to Earth for comparison. The plants' proteins will be analyzed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to see whether a particular genetic mix is better-suited for cultivation in space.
Live coverage at Spaceflight Now. Update: Launch has been pushed back 5 minutes (to the end of its launch window) at 4:44 AM EDT, 08:44 UTC. Update 2: Payload successfully separated around 08:51 UTC. NASA-TV coverage will include the solar panels being unfurled around 09:45 UTC, and a post-launch press conference.
