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NASA mission scheduled to blast off from Virginia

NASA says the goal of the October 21 launch from Wallops Island is to deliver science investigations, supplies and equipment.

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. — NASA has announced plans to launch a rocket from Virginia to the International Space Station next month.

A news release says Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft will take off from Wallops Island as early as the afternoon of Oct. 21. NASA says the goal is to deliver science investigations, supplies and equipment.

The mission includes the testing of a vest created to protect astronauts from radiation, a special oven to study baking food in microgravity and a device to explore recycling plastics for a space device. 

A module will be mounted to the space station to look for evidence of "dark, strange and anti-matter" in an effort to understand how the universe was formed. Several spacewalks will include astronauts cutting and reconnecting fluid lines, which hasn't been done before in space.

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