A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket launched the Cygnus NG-12 cargo mission to the International Space Station on Nov. 2, 2019. See photos of the liftoff and mission preparations in this gallery.
The Antares rocket rises into the clear morning sky over NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, located at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
A crowd of spectators with their phones held high snap photos of the Antares rocket during the liftoff from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Nov. 2, 2019.
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(Image credit: NASA)
The Antares rocket carrying the NG-12 cargo resupply ship lifted off right on time at 9:59 a.m. EDT (1359 GMT) on Nov. 2, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket left a fluffy smoke plume as it soared into the morning sky.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket is pictured shortly after lifting off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Nov. 2, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket is seen a few hours after arriving at launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019. Northrop Grumman's 12th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station is delivering about 8,200 lbs. of supplies and science experiments to the Expedition 61 crew.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket is seen a few hours after arriving at launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket is seen in the early morning on launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 30, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket is seen on the launchpad through a window of a boat in the Atlantic, on Oct. 30, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket rolls out from the Horizontal Integration Facility to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket rolls out from the Horizontal Integration Facility to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket rolls out from the Horizontal Integration Facility to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket rolls out from the Horizontal Integration Facility to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket rolls out from the Horizontal Integration Facility to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket rolls out from the Horizontal Integration Facility to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket rolls out to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket rolls out to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket rolls out to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket arrives at launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket arrives at launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket arrives at launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
The Antares rocket rolls out to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)
Engineers monitor the Antares rocket as it rolls out to launch Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, on Oct. 29, 2019.
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(Image credit: Northrop Grumman)
Northrop Grumman's 12th Cygnus cargo resupply ship, christened the "S.S. Alan Bean" in honor of the Apollo 12 astronaut, stands ready for mating to a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
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(Image credit: Zero G Kitchen/DoubleTree by Hilton)
One of the science payloads on board is the Zero-G Oven, which will study heat transfer properties and the process of baking food in microgravity.
The AstroRad vest undergoes a fit test at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida before launching to the space station on Northrop Grumman's NG-12 mission.
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Hanneke Weitering is an editor at Space.com with 10 years of experience in science journalism. She has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time Hanneke anjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos.
