Glitch Delays Arrival of Commercial Cargo Ship to International Space Station

By at least 24 hours

A new robotic commercial cargo ship for the International Space Station skipped its first attempt to link up with the orbiting lab Sunday (Sept. 22) due to a rendezvous glitch that delayed the spacecraft's arrival for at least 48 hours, NASA officials say.

The unmanned Cygnus spacecraf tbuilt by Orbital Sciences Corp. was expected to be captured by a robotic arm operated by astronauts inside the space station later today at 7:25 a.m. EDT (1125 GMT) before the glitch appeared. Cygnus launched to the space station on Wednesday (Sept. 18) and is making its debut flight test to the orbiting lab.