Antares launches Cygnus on ISS cargo mission

Cygnus on ISS cargo mission

The Antares lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at 4:46 p.m. Eastern after a countdown marred by only a brief issue with the rocket’s transporter/erector that was resolved earlier in the afternoon. The Cygnus separated from the Antares rocket’s upper stage nine minutes after liftoff in what controllers said was a nominal orbit, and deployed its solar panels nearly three hours later.

“The spacecraft is very healthy. It’s performing very well,” Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager of space systems at Northrop Grumman said at a post-launch briefing. The spacecraft had, after liftoff, performed two maneuvers called “targeted altitude burns” to raise its orbit. Those burns are a new capability on the Cygnus, he said, that helps shorten the time it takes for the spacecraft to reach the station.

The Cygnus, carrying 3,436 kilograms cargo, is scheduled to be captured by the station’s robotic arm at about 5:30 a.m. Eastern April 19. It will remain at the station for about 90 days before being unberthed, after which it will move to a higher orbit and fly an extended mission of at least six months to test its ability to serve as a free-flying platform for experiments and technology demonstrations.

Of that cargo, 1,569 kilograms is set aside for science investigations. That research includes a rodent experiment to test the effects of spaceflight on the function of antibody production and immune memory, an experiment by a company called FOMS to test the production of high-quality optical fibers in microgravity and two robots called Astrobees that will be able to maneuver within the station.

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