“As we prepare for our next mission to the International Space Station, I am happy to reveal that the NG-17 Cygnus spacecraft will be called in honor of Piers Sellars, a NASA astronaut who assisted assemble the area station and made lasting contributions to climate science. The flight delivered Russias Rassvet mini-research module to the space station.In overall, Sellers logged 35 days, 9 hours and 2 minutes in space, including more than 41 hours on 6 spacewalks. The NG-17 Cygnus will likewise be the very first U.S. commercial craft to use its thrusters to re-boost the area station.Once emptied of its cargo and filled up with refuse, the S.S. Piers Sellers will be removed from its berth on the area station to fall back to Earth and be destroyed over the Pacific Ocean.The Piers Sellers is the very first Cygnus to be called for an area station-era career astronaut who passed away after the spacecraft got in service in 2013. Past names have actually included former company executive J.R. Thompson, U.S. Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory prospect Robert Lawrence, NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson and NASA astronauts David Low, Gordon Fullerton, Janice Voss, Deke Slayton, Rick Husband, Alan Poindexter, John Glenn, Gene Cernan, John Young, Roger Chaffee, Alan Bean and Kalpana Chawla.The most recent Cygnus, which was introduced in August 2021 and then deorbited in December, was named the S.S. Ellison Onizuka after the first Asian American to release into area, who passed away with his six crewmates on the ill-fated STS-51L flight of the space shuttle bus Challenger in 1986.
“As we prepare for our next objective to the International Space Station, I am happy to reveal that the NG-17 Cygnus spacecraft will be named in honor of Piers Sellars, a NASA astronaut who helped put together the space station and made enduring contributions to climate science. The NG-17 Cygnus will likewise be the first U.S. business craft to use its thrusters to re-boost the space station.Once cleared of its freight and filled up with refuse, the S.S. Piers Sellers will be removed from its berth on the space station to fall back to Earth and be ruined over the Pacific Ocean.The Piers Sellers is the first Cygnus to be called for a space station-era career astronaut who passed away after the spacecraft went into service in 2013. Past namesakes have consisted of former business executive J.R. Thompson, U.S. Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory prospect Robert Lawrence, NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson and NASA astronauts David Low, Gordon Fullerton, Janice Voss, Deke Slayton, Rick Husband, Alan Poindexter, John Glenn, Gene Cernan, John Young, Roger Chaffee, Alan Bean and Kalpana Chawla.The most recent Cygnus, which was launched in August 2021 and then deorbited in December, was called the S.S. Ellison Onizuka after the very first Asian American to launch into area, who passed away with his 6 crewmates on the unfortunate STS-51L flight of the space shuttle bus Challenger in 1986.
