Advertisement

Computer glitch delays Cygnus rendezvous with International Space Station

Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo craft was scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Sunday morning, but due to a computer problem, the rendezvous has been delayed for at least two days.

This Cygnus spacecraft launched into orbit just before 11 a.m. ET Wednesday morning, from NASA's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) and was scheduled to dock with the orbiting space station just before 7:30 a.m. ET on Sunday. However, hours before it would have made its final approach, the spacecraft attempted to talk to the station's navigational computer and received a reply that it didn't understand — or at least didn't expect.

NASA and the Orbital Sciences team came up with a software fix for the problem and the spacecraft is now on a new schedule to dock with the station early on Tuesday morning.

[ More Geekquinox: Watch Orbital Sciences’ first delivery launch to the International Space Station ]

Given that this is Orbital Sciences' first mission to the ISS, it's understandable that there might be a kink or two to work out. I hope that this second attempt is successful, as it's not only good for their company, but for all of commercial spaceflight. At the same time, though, I can't help but be reminded of a certain gold-plated droid commenting on a certain ship's "most peculiar dialect."

Geek out with the latest in science and weather.
Follow @ygeekquinox on Twitter!