Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft, launched last Sunday, August 4, has just reached the International Space Station and was captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Astronaut Matthew Dominick, assisted by his colleague Jeanette Epps, will soon begin the slow maneuver to move the Cygnus until it docks with the Station’s Unity module after about two hours.
The Cygnus cargo spacecraft arrived on schedule despite some issues with a thruster burn that was scheduled to occur about 45 minutes after separation from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket’s last stage. Initial reports indicated that the onboard computer had canceled the burn due to low pressure within the engine systems. Northrop Grumman engineers were able to compensate for the issue with a new burn schedule after reviewing pressure data and determining that it was still acceptable for the thrusters to work.
Tomorrow, the International Space Station crew is scheduled to open the Cygnus spacecraft’s hatch and at that point, the cargo will be slowly brought to the Station. The NG-21 mission is almost accomplished because the Cygnus spacecraft can’t land and when it comes back into Earth’s atmosphere it will disintegrate. For this reason, it will be used to get rid of components that failed or that can’t be used any longer on the International Space Station: all of that will be loaded on the Cygnus and will disintegrate along with it. In the meantime, it will be used to raise the Station’s orbit via its thrusters.
The Cygnus called S.S. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee will leave the International Space Station in January 2025. In these cases, a tentative date is decided for the departure of a cargo spacecraft which, however, can be modified because it also depends on other tasks with higher priority.
The next Northrop Grumman’s resupply mission could begin in February 2025 but the date will not be established with precision for some time. It will be the third of at least three missions involving the use of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket while waiting for the new version of Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket to be ready.
