UPDATE: Orbital ATK launch postponed, NASA officials announce

Sunday night’s launch of Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket has been postponed for 24 hours, as officials cite issues with ground support equipment.

Keith Koehler, a public information officer for the NASA Wallops Island Flight Facility, says a ground support equipment (“GSE”) cable did not perform as expected during the pre-launch check out.

“We have spares on hand and rework procedures are in process,” Koehler says in a statement.

Sunday’s launch was expected to send a load of supplies to the International Space Station two years after an Antares rocket exploded seconds after lift-off. 

The mission, which is now expected to launch at 7:40 p.m., Monday, is to put the state-owned launch pad back in business. The 2014 rocket explosion caused about 15 million dollars in damage to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (“MARS”) launch pad.

The Virginia Commerical Space Flight Authority owns and operators the MARS launch pad on Wallops Island, which NASA uses to launch small research rockets.