At 5:39pm ET, Northrup Grumman's Antares rocket is launching from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Weather is currently 95% go and the launch is on track for an on-time liftoff from Pad 0A.
The Cygnus spacecraft on this mission is carrying approximately 8,000lbs of supplies, research, and hardware to the International Space Station including a Mobile Space Lab to perform biology experiments without the need for crew operations for as long as a month. Other experiments on this mission are;
OsteoOmics: Investigating the molecular mechanisms behind bone loss is microgravity
Phage Evolution: Examining the effects of microgravity and radiation exposure on viruses that target human bacteria to help protect the astronauts health on missions in the future
The Mochii Investigation: Initial demonstration of a new miniature scanning electron microscope for real-time measuring of micro- and nanostructure on the ISS
The Spacecraft Fire Experiment-IV: examining the growth and development of a fire in different materials and environmental conditions
The spacecraft is set to arrive at the ISS on Tuesday, Feb 11th around 4:30am ET and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere after departure on May 25th.