NASA Cygnus NG-14 launch: When and where to view it

NASA cargo spacecraft Cygnus will be on its way to resupply mission on Thursday, October 1. The Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft will launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia with thousands of pounds of supplies.

According to NASA's latest blog update, the 14th resupply mission to the International Space Station will begin at 9:38 pm EDT with the launch window of five minutes. The mission that is part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program will be loaded with 8,000 pound of supplies that includes research material, hardware, and other crew essentials.

The launch will take place on the Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket from Virginia Space's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The launch was postponed from Tuesday to Thursday due to unfavourable weather conditions.

Northrop Grumman previously announced: "We have rescheduled the Antares and Cygnus launch for the NG-14 mission to Thursday, Oct. 1 at 9:38 PM EDT due to unfavorable weather conditions."

This Thursday, if weather condition permits, the launch will be visible to the local residents of "up and down the East Coast of the United States." Unfortunately, the live launch will not be possible to view as NASA Visitor Center remains closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, enthusiasts across the world can still witness the launch through live coverage on NASA Television and its official website. The program will commence at 9:00 pm EDT on both the channels. The launch will also stream on NASA's channels on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion, and Theta.TV.

More details from Space.com reveal that Cygnus NG-14 carries a brand new space toilet, skincare from Estee Lauder, and scientific experiment kits among tons of fresh supplies in the private cargo.

Cygnus NG-14 is dubbed SS Kalpana Chawla to honour the late Indian astronaut who died in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the space station on Sunday, and will be received by the crew of Expedition 63.

"Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA will grapple Cygnus and Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos will act as a backup," NASA blog explains. "After Cygnus capture, mission control in Houston will send ground commands for the station's robotic arm to rotate and install it on the bottom of the station's Unity module."

Cygnus NG-14 will depart from ISS mid-December after the Saffire-V experiment.