Rocket launch will be visible from D.C. Saturday morning, but grab your coat

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. - NASA will launch an Antares rocket from the Wallops Island Flight Facility on Saturday morning, and people across the mid-Atlantic should be able to see it clearly as it flies through the sky.

The rocket will be on a mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch is scheduled for 7:37 a.m., and it should be visible in the immediate D.C. area for about 60-90 seconds after launch.

If you plan to venture outside to see it, you'll definitely need a coat! A Freeze Warning is in effect for the D.C. region Saturday morning, and temps are expected to dip into the 20s overnight. So bundle up before you head out.

This Antares rocket will carry a Cygnus spacecraft to deliver over 7,400 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the ISS and its crew. The spacecraft is named the S.S. Gene Cernan, after former astronaut Eugene Cernan who passed away on January 16, 2017. He was the last man to step foot on the moon.

These rocket launches don't happen often, but when they do, people in most of the mid-Atlantic can see them well. The most recent Antares launch was over a year ago, on October 17, 2016. It happened at night, and was visible from over 200 miles away.