Stephen Hawking

Reaching for the Stars with Stephen Hawking: Professor Hawking, one of the most prominent cosmologists of our time, has given voice to the great heights humanity can achieve. He explains the need for space exploration in this video. For more with Hawking and actor Eddie Redmayne, who plays him in the film “The Theory of Everything," visit: http://go.nasa.gov/1rMos3c

ANTARES

The countdown is progressing smoothly today for the launch of Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares rocket, with the Cygnus cargo spacecraft on top. There are no technical concerns with the rocket or spacecraft being worked. The weather for this evening’s launch is predicted to be 99 percent favorable.

Liftoff is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. EDT from the Mid-Atlantic Spaceport's Pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Live coverage of the launch on NASA TV will begin at 5:45 p.m.

Cygnus is loaded with about 5,000 pounds of science investigations, food, supplies and hardware for the space station and its crew.

A launch this evening will result in Cygnus catching up to the space station on Sunday, Nov. 2. Cygnus will be grappled at approximately 4:58 a.m. by NASA crew members Reid Wiseman and Barry “Butch” Wilmore. Cygnus will be attached to the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony node and will remain in place approximately one month. It is scheduled depart the space station on Dec. 3.

This is Orbital's third mission to the International Space Station under its Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.

For more information about tonights launch

#Antares

Live now: Coverage of tonight's 6:45pm ET/22:45 UTC #Antares launch to the International Space Station.

 

The Antares rocket will carry Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo spacecraft, loaded with some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments, to the International Space Station. CRS-3 (short for “Commercial Resupply Services”) will be the fourth Cygnus flight, including a demonstration flight in 2013, and the first night launch of an Antares rocket.

While an assessment of a boat in a range

While an assessment of a boat in a range area is conducted, the countdown to Antares’ launch is being held at T-minus 12 minutes.

Launch is now targeted for 6:55:04 p.m. EDT.

The launch of Orbital Sciences

The launch of Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket carrying its Cygnus cargo spacecraft has been scrubbed. The range remained red because of a boat down range in the trajectory Antares would have flown had it lifted off.

United Space Alliance technician Don Pataky

United Space Alliance technician Don Pataky repairs hail-inflicted damage in the foam insulation on the external tank of Space Shuttle Discovery. The Shuttle was rolled back from Pad 39B to the Vehicle Assemby Building for repairs because access to all of the damaged areas was not possible at the pad. The work is expected to take two to three days, allowing Discovery to roll back to the pad late this week for launch of mission STS-96, the 94th launch in the Space Shuttle Program. Liftoff will occur no earlier than May 27. STS-96 is a logistics and resupply mission for the International Space Station, carrying such payloads as a Russian crane, the Strela; a U.S.-built crane; the Spacehab Oceaneering Space System Box (SHOSS), a logistics items carrier; and STARSHINE, a student-shared experiment. 05/18/1999

In the Vehicle Assembly Building, Ken Strite, NASA Quality Control

In the Vehicle Assembly Building, Ken Strite, NASA Quality Control, inspects the connection between Space Shuttle Discovery and the external tank that will be used to launch mission STS-103 in early December. This 10-day mission is designed to replace aging parts on the nine-year-old Hubble Space Telescope and to upgrade some of its functioning systems. During the flight, the astronaut crew will replace all six of the observatory's gyroscopes, a fine guidance sensor, its main computer, and other equipment. 11/05/1999