A Northrop Grumman rocket blasted off from Virginia’s Eastern Shore Saturday, carrying a spacecraft that would bring high-tech cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).
Watch the launch below:
The Antares rocket lifted off just after 4 a.m. from the Virginia Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad at Wallops Island. It was carrying the Cygnus cargo ship, which has since been bolted into place on one of the ISS ports.
This is Northrup Grumman’s tenth cargo delivery flight. The items on board will support dozens of new experiments, like demonstrating a new combination 3D printer and recycling machine in space, using simulated stardust to try to create “planets,” and growing a protein in microgravity that could help cure Parkinson’s Disease.
It will be attached to the space station for about three months before departing in February 2019.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
