Gallery: Antares rocket explodes

Based upon an on-time launch Thursday, this is the timeline for Cygnus from liftoff through capture by the space station’s robotic arm.

A commercial Antares rocket rolled out of a hangar on a one-mile trip to its launch pad on Virginia’s Eastern Shore on Thursday, ready for final countdown preparations ahead of liftoff Saturday morning on a cargo delivery flight to the International Space Station.

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, upgraded to carry heavier payloads into orbit, lifted off Saturday from a launch pad on Virginia’s Eastern Shore with a Cygnus supply ship in pursuit of the International Space Station with fresh food, a collection of biological and technology demonstration experiments, a zero-g baking oven, and repair gear for an aging $2 billion particle physics experiment.