See video of the 2014 launch. Today, the station has enough food and supplies to last until April, which is below the six month margin of NASA.
Advertisement
“In the 12 months since this launch was ordered, the ULA and Orbital ATK teams worked very closely together to integrate the Cygnus with the Atlas launch system, including development of a new structural adapter and also a mission design that includes a 30-minute launch window for this ISS rendezvous mission”, said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice-president.
The company said after the accident that a control operator detected a suspected rocket engine failure, and the rocket was purposefully detonated to prevent damage to people in the area.
Orbital ATK’s upgraded Antares launch vehicle remains on schedule for a full-power hot-fire test in early 2016 and resumption of flight operations from the Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia in the second quarter of the year.
After a two day orbital chase the Cygnus spacecraft will be grappled with the Canadian robotic arm by the station crew at approximately 6:10 a.m. on Wednesday, December 9.
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 spacecraft is carrying the most cargo ever packed onto a barrel-shaped Cygnus, with some 7,300 pounds (3,300 kilograms) of gear, including science experiments, ready-made food, a jet pack for spacewalking astronauts and even a satellite made by elementary school students. Gen. Wayne Monteith, 45th Space Wing commander, who also served as the Launch Decision Authority. Normally used for hefty satellite launches, it is the mighty successor to the Atlas used to put John Glenn into orbit in 1962.
Orbital ATK has contracted a second Cygnus to fly on an Atlas in March 2016 on the OA-6 mission. Orbital ATK also provides a critical service by providing large-volume pressurized disposal cargo, a unique capability among America’s commercial cargo providers.
SpaceX is preparing its own spacecraft combination – Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon – to carry astronauts to the station in the near future.
For the past six months NASA has relied on Russian and Japanese rockets to bring supplies to and from the space station. It is expected to return to flight by next summer.
While acknowledging 2015 has been a hard year because of the disrupted supply chain, Shireman said commercial space is inevitable and will drive down launch costs. SpaceX opened the commercial pipeline to the space station in 2012, a year after NASA’s shuttles retired.
Advertisement
The Cygnus launched Sunday is named after Mercury 7 astronaut Deke Slayton, a pioneer in commercial spaceflight before his death in 1993.
