The Cygnus cargo spacecraft is just a few feet away from the International Space Station’s Canadarm2.
Bolden in a statement. “Orbital’s extraordinary efforts
are helping us fulfill the promise of American innovation
to maintain our nation’s leadership in space.”
The Cygnus spacecraft is healthy and successfully
unfurled its life giving solar panels starting 1.5 minutes
after separation from the second stage that took place
about 10 minutes after launch, said Culbertson.
Antares placed Cygnus into its intended orbit of
about 180 x 160 miles above the Earth, inclined at 51.6
degrees to the equator, Orbital said.
Cygnus is traveling at 17,500 MPH and is on its way
to rendezvous with the space station Sunday, Sept. 22.
The cargo vessel will deliver about 1,300 pounds (589
kilograms) of cargo, including food, clothing, water,
science experiments, spare parts and gear to the
Expedition 37 crew.
The flight, known as Orb-D1 is a demonstration
mission to prove that Cygnus can conduct a complex
series of maneuvers in space safely bringing it to the
vicinity of the ISS.
Mission controllers at Orbital guided Cygnus to the
vicinity of the ISS on Sept. 22 during the initially planned
docking attempt.
But only after carrying out a series of 10 complicated
maneuvering tests proving that the vehicle can safely
and reliably approach the station up close would NASA
and the ISS partners grant permission to dock.
However as Cygnus was in the final stages of
approach, a communications error forced an abort.
NASA and Orbital then decided to delay the 2nd
attempt about a week to Sept. 29 due to impending
Sept. 25 Soyuz launch and docking with the next
human crew of three US and Russian astronauts.
Image: NASA
At last the Cygnus spacecraft put on a spectacular
space ballet - and was no worse for the wear spending
an extra week in free space due to the easily fixed
communications glitch.
ISS astronauts Karen Nyberg (NASA) and Luca
Parmitano (ESA) successfully grappled Cygnus with
the station’s Canadian built robotic arm and berthed
the capsule at an earth facing docking port on the
Harmony module on Sunday, Sept 29.
The pair were working at two robotics work stations
from inside the Cupola and Destiny modules. They used
the stations 57 foot long (19 m) Canadarm2 to snare
Cygnus at a distance of about 30 feet (10 meters).
They gradually motioned the arm closer and coupled
Cygnus to the ISS.
Hatches to Cygnus were opened the next day on
Sept. 30 after completing leak checks.
The Antares first stage is powered by dual liquid
fueled AJ26 first stage rocket engines that generate a
combined total thrust of some 750,000 lbs - originally
built in the Soviet Union as NK-33 model engines for the
Soviet era moon rocket.
The upper stage features an ATK Castor 30 solid
rocket motor with thrust vectoring. Antares can loft
payloads weighing over 5000 kg to LEO. The 2nd stage
will be upgraded starting with the 4th Antares flight.
“Antares next flight is scheduled for December
sometime between the 8th and 21st, said Frank
Culbertson, former astronaut and now Orbital’s
executive Vice President responsible for the Antares
and Cygnus programs. Eight operational Cygnus flights
to the ISS from NASA Wallops are planned through
2016.
33
www.RocketSTEM.org 33