If you live on the East Coast of the USA you should step outside this evening (6:45pm) to see the Antares Rocket being launched. This is a private rocket built by the commercial space flight company, Orbital Sciences. The launch is a commercial resupply mission for NASA. It will be bringing supplies to the International Space Station.
It will launch from the Mid-Atlantic spaceport pad at Wallops Island (off the coast of Virginia) this evening (Monday, Oct. 27, 2014). They are targeting a 6:45pm (Eastern Standard Time) liftoff. This is their 5th launch of the Antares rocket. It’s their 4th (and largest) cargo delivery mission. If you want to find out more, visit the Orbital Sciences website: Mission Update ISS Commercial Resupply Service Mission .
This map from Orbital Sciences shows who will be able to see the lift-off.
The Orbital Sciences website has some sample views of where to look depending on where you live. For example, they have the view from…
Washington D.C.:
Baltimore, Maryland:
New Jersey/New York City:
Images courtesy of Orbital Sciences
The kids and I are pretty excited and we’ll definitely be outside watching!
