Cygnus Releases from International Space Station
Expedition 37 crew members aboard the International Space Station released
Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft from the station's robotic arm at 7:31 a.m.
EDT on Oct. 22. Orbital Sciences engineers now will conduct a series of planned
burns and maneuvers to move Cygnus toward a destructive re-entry in Earth's
atmosphere Wednesday, Oct. 23.
Cygnus had been attached to the space station's Harmony module for 23 days.
The spacecraft delivered about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including
food, clothing and student experiments, on a demonstration cargo resupply
mission to the station.
Cygnus was launched on Orbital's Antares rocket on Sept. 18 from the
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in
Virginia.
Image Credit: NASA/Karen
Nyberg
Orbital Sciences Cygnus Spacecraft Departs Space
Station, Ends Demonstration Mission for NASA
A cargo resupply demonstration mission by Orbital Sciences Corp. drew to a
close Tuesday as Expedition 37 crew members aboard the International Space
Station detached and released the Dulles, Va., company's Cygnus spacecraft from
the orbiting laboratory.
Cygnus had been attached to the space station's Harmony module for 23 days.
The spacecraft delivered about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo, including
food, clothing and student experiments. Future Cygnus flights will ensure a
robust national capability to deliver critical science research to orbit,
significantly increasing NASA's ability to conduct new science investigations to
the only laboratory in microgravity.
"Congratulations to the teams at Orbital Sciences and NASA who worked hard to
make this demonstration mission to the International Space Station an
overwhelming success," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "We are delighted
to now have two American companies able to resupply the station. U.S. innovation
and inspiration have once again shown their great strength in the design and
operation of a new generation of vehicles to carry cargo to our laboratory in
space. Orbital's success today is helping make NASA's future exploration to
farther destinations possible."
Prior to its departure from the station, Cygnus was loaded with items no
longer needed aboard the station. Astronauts Karen Nyberg of NASA and Luca
Parmitano of the European Space Agency detached the spacecraft using the
station's robotic arm and released Cygnus at 7:31 a.m. EDT. Orbital Sciences
engineers now will conduct a series of planned burns and maneuvers to move
Cygnus toward a destructive re-entry in Earth's atmosphere Wednesday, Oct.
23.
Cygnus was launched Sept. 18 on Orbital's Antares rocket from the
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in
Virginia.
The maiden flight of Cygnus and its 11-day journey to the station included a
number of tests designed to demonstrate the spacecraft's ability to navigate,
maneuver, lock on to the station and abort its approach. Following these
demonstrations NASA cleared the spacecraft to approach the station Sept. 29.
Cygnus had been scheduled for a rendezvous with the space station Sept. 22, but
because of a data format mismatch, the first rendezvous attempt was postponed.
Orbital updated and tested a software patch to resolve the issue.
Orbital built and tested its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft under
NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program. NASA
initiatives, such as COTS, are helping to develop a robust U.S. commercial space
transportation industry with the goal of achieving safe, reliable and
cost-effective transportation to and from low-Earth orbit to meet the needs of
both commercial and government customers. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program also is
working with commercial partners to enable the availability of U.S. commercial
human spaceflight capabilities in the next few years.
The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and
human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research
breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has had crew members
continuous on board since November 2000. In that time, it has been visited by
more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft.
The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in
exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.
For more information about the Orbital demonstration mission, visit:
For more information about the International Space Station, visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
