Space station resupply launch delayed by drifting boat

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Private space company Orbital Sciences Corp. was set to a rocket a Cygnus cargo ship into space on Monday this week, the latest of NASA's regular International Space Station resupply missions, but the blastoff was postponed until Tuesday after a stray boat drifted into the launch zone.

The company's Anteres rocket ship was scheduled to take off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia on Monday evening. When a boat appeared downrange of the takeoff site, officials were forced to call off the launch plans.

"This was strictly a range issue this evening that terminated the count just 10 minutes before the scheduled liftoff time at the end of a 10-minute window," NASA TV commentator Rob Navias said during a webcast yesterday.

Engineers will reattempt the launch of the cargo ship on Tuesday night at approximately 6:22 p.m. NASA officials say the launch could be visible, weather permitting, up and down the Eastern Seaboard, from as far south as South Carolina and as far north as Massachusetts. The launch will be broadcast live on NASA TV.

Frank Culbertson, former NASA astronaut and now executive vice president of Orbital Sciences, brushed off any concerns about the pending launch. He congratulated launch team members for their work leading up to the planned liftoff and shrugged off the boat-caused delay.

"That's just spaceflight," Culbertson told Space.com.

Tuesday's launch will be the second of eight launches the company is contracted to carry out for NASA -- an arrangement worth $1.9 billion. Earlier this year, NASA awarded a $1.6 billion contract to SpaceX to launch 12 unmanned resupply missions.