CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Connecticut residents got to see the rocket carrying equipment and supplies for the International Space Station as it ascended into space Monday.
Orbital ATK, one of NASA’s shippers, had originally planned to launch its own cargo ship Sunday night at around 8 p.m. from Wallops Island, Virginia. The launch was postponed 24 hours due to a cable that did not perform as expected during the pre-launch check out.
The launch occurred at Monday at 7:45 p.m.
The rocket was visible in Connecticut about 2.5 minutes after launch at about 5 degrees above the horizon, (about the width of three fingers held at arm’s length), as it heads southeast over the Atlantic.
The company’s retooled Antares rocket did the honors.
The rocket is carrying supplies, equipment and cameras. There is also an iPad Air 2 on board. One of the experiments being sent up is designed to study how fire behaves in micro gravity.
An Antares promptly exploded the last time one took off, on Oct. 28, 2014. Orbital ATK has spent the past two years redesigning the unmanned rocket and rebuilding the launch pad. It also made good on two station deliveries using another company’s rockets in Florida.
NASA’s other supplier, Space X, is grounded after a rocket exploded at its Cape Canaveral launch pad in September during a test firing, destroying the rocket and the satellite it was due to launch.
That launchpad is used by SpaceX to launch rockets that carry supplies to the International Space Station as well as satellites.
