【100% Natural Friend’s Older Sister (2025)】

Millions of skywatchers00% Natural Friend’s Older Sister (2025)the U.S. East Coast from South Carolina to Massachusetts may be able to see a rocket launch to the International Space Station (ISS) this weekend.

That is, if Hurricane Nicole -- currently on course to hit Bermuda on Thursday -- gets out of the way in time.

Orbital ATK, which has a contract to transport supplies to the ISS, says it's preparing to launch its two-stage Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. The flight is slated for Sunday at 8:03 p.m. EDT, although the rough weather may delay the launch until later in the week.

People as far north as Boston and as far south as South Carolina may catch a brief glimpse of what will appear to be a sky-bound shooting star, so long as the night is clear and cloudless, said Kurt Eberly, deputy program manager for Orbital ATK's Antares program.

Eberly said the plan to launch on Sunday could change if Hurricane Nicole, now a Category 2 storm, batters Bermuda in the coming days.

NASA keeps tracking and data-gathering equipment on the island and has had to remove some of its antennas ahead of the storm.

"If the hurricane gets out of there Thursday and passes through, we can reconfigure Friday, test everything Saturday and launch on Sunday," Eberly told Mashable. However, if the storm's progress is delayed, or if it hits the island harder than anticipated, the launch could be postponed.

Nicole already pushed back Orbital ATK's launch plan by about three days. And last week, Hurricane Matthew delayed the plan by a day after heavy rain and lightning strikes prevented crews from performing certain operations inside a processing building in Virginia.

If all goes according to plan, the Antares rocket will carry an uncrewed Cygnus cargo ship into orbit to resupply the ISS on behalf of NASA.

Sunday’s flight will take place nearly two years after Orbital ATK’s launch failure on a similar mission. On Oct. 28, 2014, the rocket exploded just seconds after liftoff, a problem Orbital ATK later traced to the rocket’s first-stage engines.

On the new mission, called CRS OA-5, Cygnus will deliver near 5,350 pounds of cargo for the astronauts in residence at the space station.

Items include personal gadgets such as an iPad Air 2 and a Nikon D4 camera, as well as scientific equipment such as a neuron spectrometer, a spacecraft fire experiment kit and extravehicular activity gear.

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