ULA Atlas V ready to launch heaviest payload to date with ‘S.S. Rick Husband’

Orbital ATK’s  S.S. Rick Husband Cygnus cargo vessel is safely cocooned within a four-meter fairing atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401 booster at Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41). This mission is being carried out by ULA / Orbital ATK under the $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract that Orbital ATK has inked with NASA.Tuesday’s nighttime launch, slated to take place during a 30-minute window that will open at 11:05 p.m. EDT, will be the second of two planned missions that will use an Atlas V 401 prior to the new “Enhanced” Cygnus flies on the 200 version of Orbital ATK’s Antares booster.