The Northrop Grumman Cygnus area truck is envisioned in the grip of the Canadarm2 robotic arm as ground controllers from another location set up the freight craft to the International Space Stations Unity module on November 9, 2022. The area station was orbiting into a sundown 257 miles above the Indian Ocean off the coast of the African country of Tanzania. Credit: NASA.
Following a deorbit engine firing later on Friday evening, Cygnus will start a planned harmful re-entry, in which the spacecraft– filled with trash loaded by the station crew– will safely burn up in Earths atmosphere.
Cygnus reached the spaceport station on November 9, 2022, following a launch on Northrop Grummans Antares rocket from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. It was the businesss 18th business resupply services mission to the spaceport station for NASA. Northrop Grumman named the spacecraft “S.S. Sally Ride” after late NASA astronaut, physicist, and first American female to fly in space, Sally Ride, introduced on an Antares rocket from the Virginia Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceports Pad 0A at Wallops.
The Cygnus area freighter is envisioned moments after being launched from the grip of the Canadarm2 robotic finishing its remain at the spaceport station. Credit: NASA TV
The Cygnus spacecraft successfully left the International Space Station after delivering 8,200 pounds of products and will undergo a planned damaging re-entry, securely burning up in Earths atmosphere.
At 7:22 a.m. EDT, Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft was launched from the Canadarm2 robotic arm which earlier separated Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the International Space Stations Unity module. At the time of release, the station was flying southwest of Ireland.
The Cygnus spacecraft successfully departed the space station more than 5 months after getting to the microgravity lab to deliver about 8,200 pounds of materials, clinical investigations, business items, hardware, and other freight for NASA