NASA completes successful launch of Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket

Next stop, the International Space Station! Scientists from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility announced the successful launch of the Orbital ATK Antares Rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft.

As of 7:55 p.m., NASA stated that the unmanned rocket had entered space after a 7:45 p.m. liftoff. Stage 1 separation occurred at 7:49 p.m., followed by Stage 2 Burnout/orbit insertion at 7:53 p.m., and Cygnus Separation from second stage at 7:54 p.m.

According to NASA’s blog post “Cygnus is scheduled for arrival at the International Space Station on Oct. 23, with about 5,100 pounds of supplies and payloads, including critical materials to directly support dozens of the more than 250 science and research investigations that will occur during the space station’s Expeditions 49 and 50.”

The cargo carried by Cygnus includes food for those working in the I.S.S. at the moment as well.

This is the first attempt of an Antares rocket at Wallops since a failed attempt on October 28, 2014, resulted in an explosion on the launch pad.

47 ABC had a crew on the ground for the liftoff and will bring you more details from a press conference at 10:00 p.m.