Orbital ATK CRS-4

From #NASA:

Weather forecasters from the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron are predicting a 60 percent chance of favorable weather at the scheduled time for launch of Orbital ATK CRS-4 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, targeted for 5:55 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 3, from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This is the company’s fourth scheduled cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station under the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

Cygnus will carry more than 7,000 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory to support dozens of approximately 250 science and research investigations that will occur during Expeditions 45 and 46. This first Cygnus mission using the Atlas V launch system provides increased performance and flexibility to the Orbital ATK cargo delivery service. The new experiments arriving to the orbital laboratory will challenge and inspire future scientists and explorers. Science payloads will offer a new life science facility that will support studies on cell cultures, bacteria and other microorganisms; a microsatellite deployer and the first microsatellite that will be deployed from the space station; and experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids, clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel, and evaluate flame-resistant textiles.

Cygnus also will deliver replacement cargo items including a set of Microsoft HoloLens devices for use in NASA’s Sidekick project, a safety jet pack astronauts wear during spacewalks known as SAFER, and high pressure nitrogen and oxygen tanks to plug into the station’s air supply network.

The spacecraft will spend more than a month attached to the space station before its destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere in January 2016, disposing of about 3,000 pounds of trash.

Follow our blog on the latest preps for Thursday's#Cygnus cargo launch to the International Space Station: http://go.nasa.gov/1LH5pjG

Learn how Thursday's launch is poised to bolster space station science and supplies :http://go.nasa.gov/1LH5pzW