The US space agency is geared up to send Orbital Science Corporation's Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).Mission managers have given the 'go' for a 6.45 p.m. (EDT) Monday launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.The third commercial re-supply flight by a Cygnus spacecraft to the ISS will transport some 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments to the orbiting laboratory.There is a 98 percent chance of favourable weather at the time of launch, NASA said in a statement.
Earlier, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft splashed down into the Pacific Ocean, bringing back to the Earth hundreds of pounds of cargo and the results of critical, long-term research from the ISS.The returned cargo could aid in the development of more efficient solar cells and semiconductor-based electronics, the development of plants better suited for space and improvements in sustainable agriculture."This mission enabled research critical to achieving NASA's goal of long-duration human spaceflight in deep space," said Sam Scimemi, director of the ISS pision at the NASA headquarters in Washington, DC.