NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - NASA says the commercial space company Orbital ATK will send a resupply rocket to the International Space Station around Aug. 22. The launch will be the firm's first from Virginia since a 2014 mishap that destroyed a NASA payload and damaged Virginia's state-owned launch pad.
NASA announced the tentative launch date Thursday, saying the unmanned spacecraft will carry supplies and vehicle hardware to the space station's crew.
It will be the seventh launch by Orbital intended for the space station. One previous mission failed shortly after liftoff in 2014. A liquid oxygen turbo pump had malfunctioned in the Soviet-era engine that powered the rocket.
The accident caused more than $13 million in damages to the state-owned launch pad. Orbital has since switched to using different rocket engines.
