By Carol Vaughn
Many Eastern Shore residents woke up early Monday to view a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket launched at 5:32 a.m. from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA Wallops Flight Facility.
It was the second launch attempt. The launch was scrubbed Sunday morning due to a fire alarm going off at Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft control center in Dulles, Va.
The rocket was carrying the S. S. Sally Ride Cygnus spacecraft, loaded with more than 8,200 pounds of cargo including science experiments and supplies, bound for the International Space Station.
This is Northrop Grumman’s 18th resupply mission to the ISS under a NASA contract.
Only one of two solar arrays on the spacecraft successfully deployed, NASA reported.
Still, Northrop Grumman reported Cygnus had enough power to rendezvous with the International Space Station Wednesday, Nov. 9, to complete its primary mission.
The spacecraft arrived at the ISS Wednesday, when NASA asatronaut Nicole Mann captured it using a robotic arm, at 5:20 a.m.
Cygnus will remain at the space station until late January before it departs for a destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, according to NASA.
