Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Recreation Commons => Destination: Alpha Centauri => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on October 22, 2013, 07:39:44 pm

Title: 1st Private Cygnus Supply Spacecraft Leaves Space Station
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 22, 2013, 07:39:44 pm

1st Private Cygnus Supply Spacecraft Leaves Space Station
SPACE.com
By Tariq Malik, Managing Editor  5 hours ago


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The first Cygnus commercial cargo spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences Corp



The first privately built Cygnus cargo ship to visit the International Space Station detached from the orbiting lab Tuesday (Oct. 22) and is poised to destroy itself in Earth's atmosphere in a fiery finale to its successful test flight.

The unmanned Cygnus spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., was released by astronauts using the station's robotic arm at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT) as both space vehicles sailed high above the Atlantic Ocean, east of Argentina. The spacecraft is expected to fire its rocket thrusters Wednesday (Oct. 23) to leave orbit and burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

On the space station, astronauts and cosmonauts bid farewell to the visiting cargo ship. Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano of Italy thanked Orbital and Cygnus ground control teams, adding that it was a honor to watch over the spacecraft's first test flight.

"It was a real pleasure to work both with Cygnus and all the people on the ground," Parmitano radioed NASA's Mission Control in Houston.


Cygnus test flight success

The departure of Cygnus caps a successful test flight of the new spacecraft by Orbital and sets the stage for the first official cargo delivery to the space station in December. Orbital Sciences has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to deliver supplies to the space station with at least eight Cygnus spacecraft.

The next Cygnus spacecraft is expected to launch to the space station in December to fly Orbital's first official cargo delivery mission for NASA.

This first Cygnus launched toward the space station on Sept. 18 atop an Orbital-built Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The spacecraft arrived at the station on Sept. 29, about 7 days later than planned due to a software glitch and the launch of a new crew to the orbiting lab on Sept. 25.


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The first privately built Cygnus spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences Corp. is released from the International Space Station's robotic arm on Oct 22, 2013


Orbital's disposable Cygnus spacecraft are silver cylinders about 17 feet (5 meters) long that are built for the company by Thales Alenia Space in Italy. Cygnus is powered by an Orbital-built service module containing two solar wings for power, as well as rocket thrusters. Each Cygnus is capable of carrying up to 4,409 pounds (2,000 kg) of supplies, though the first test vehicle was packed with only 1,543 pounds (700 kilograms) of supplies and gear, Orbital officials said.


Commercial spaceflight's giant leap

Orbital Sciences is one of two commercial companies with billion-dollar NASA contracts to keep the space station stocked with supplies. The other company is the Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, which has a $1.6 billion to fly 12 cargo flights to the station using its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon space capsules.

SpaceX has already flown two of its 12 cargo flights, which launch from a pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Unlike Cygnus, SpaceX's Dragon capsule is equipped with a heat shield and can return supplies and experiments back to Earth.

"Congratulations to the teams at Orbital Sciences and NASA who worked hard to make this demonstration mission to the International Space Station an overwhelming success," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "We are delighted to now have two American companies able to resupply the station. U.S. innovation and inspiration have once again shown their great strength in the design and operation of a new generation of vehicles to carry cargo to our laboratory in space. Orbital's success today is helping make NASA's future exploration to farther destinations possible."

With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011, the space agency is relying on Orbital Sciences and SpaceX to deliver vital supplies to the station crew. NASA is also banking on new crew-carrying commercial spacecraft to ferry American astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX is one of several companies vying for NASA's commercial crew flights.

NASA first picked Orbital Sciences as an International Space Station cargo partner in 2008 when the agency awarded the company $288 million to develop Cygnus.

Orbital named its first Cygnus spacecraft the G. David Low a former NASA astronaut who oversaw Orbital's bids for NASA contracts. Low died of cancer in 2008.

"It's been really great mission," NASA astronaut Cady Coleman radioed the station crew from Mission Control, "and we're both sad and happy to say goodbye to the G. David Low today," NASA astronaut Cady Coleman radioed the station crew from Mission Control."


http://news.yahoo.com/1st-private-cygnus-supply-spacecraft-leaves-space-station-124441769.html (http://news.yahoo.com/1st-private-cygnus-supply-spacecraft-leaves-space-station-124441769.html)

Title: Orbital Sciences' cargo ship departs International Space Station
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 23, 2013, 01:53:31 am

Orbital Sciences' cargo ship departs International Space Station
Reuters
By Irene Klotz 9 hours ago


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Attached to the Harmony node, the first Cygnus commercial cargo spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences



CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp completed a successful test mission at the International Space Station on Tuesday, clearing the firm to begin regular cargo runs for NASA under a $1.9 billion contract.

Using the space station's robotic arm, astronauts aboard the station plucked the Orbital Sciences' Cygnus capsule from its docking port and released the unmanned capsule into space as the two sailed high over the Atlantic Ocean.

The capsule was launched on September 18 aboard an Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket from a new commercial spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia.

Cygnus arrived at the station 11 days later. Docking was delayed a week due to a spacecraft communications glitch and the higher priority arrival of new station crew members aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.

"This test flight went pretty much without any hiccups at all," NASA mission commentator Josh Byerly said during a NASA Television broadcast of Cygnus' departure.

The capsule is scheduled to make two braking maneuvers on Wednesday to lose altitude so it can be tugged back into Earth's atmosphere by the planet's gravity and burn up.

Cygnus, which carried about 1,300 pounds (590 kg) of cargo to the station, was loaded up with trash and items no longer needed aboard the station before its release.

Orbital Sciences is the second of two U.S. firms hired by NASA to fly cargo to the space station, a $100 billion project of 15 nations, following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011.

Rival Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, a privately owned California company, began work for NASA about 18 months before Orbital Sciences. It has already made a test flight and two cargo runs to the station, a permanently staffed research complex that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

SpaceX, which is owned and operated by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has a $1.6 billion NASA contract for 12 station resupply missions, as well as a backlog of more than 40 other Falcon rocket flights for commercial satellite companies and non-U.S. government agencies.

"We are delighted to now have two American companies able to resupply the station," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement.

"Congratulations to the teams at Orbital Sciences and NASA who worked hard to make this demonstration mission to the International Space Station an overwhelming success," he said.

Like SpaceX, Orbital Sciences also hopes to sell its rockets to customers beyond NASA.

"With two really good launches under our belt, things are picking up in terms of customer interest," Orbital Sciences Chairman and Chief Executive David Thompson said during a conference call with investment analysts last week.

The company debuted its medium-lift Antares rocket during a test flight on April 21. Its next mission, scheduled for December, is the first of eight cargo runs to the station under a $1.9 billion contract with NASA.


http://news.yahoo.com/orbital-sciences-cargo-ship-departs-international-space-station-143641409--sector.html (http://news.yahoo.com/orbital-sciences-cargo-ship-departs-international-space-station-143641409--sector.html)