Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) successfully launched its AntaresTM rocket carrying a CygnusTM spacecraft April 17 at 4:46 p.m. EDT from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A on Wallops Island, Virginia, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. The launch marks Northrop Grumman’s 11th cargo mission carrying supplies to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station for NASA.
Following an approximate nine-minute ascent, the Cygnus spacecraft was successfully deployed into orbit. Northrop Grumman engineering teams confirmed reliable communications had been established and the vehicle’s solar arrays were fully deployed, providing the necessary electrical power to operate the spacecraft.
Cygnus™ spacecraft successfully completed its rendezvous and berthing maneuvers with the International Space Station on the morning of April 19. The mission marks the company’s 11th successful berthing with the orbiting laboratory. Cygnus arrived at the space station with nearly 7,600 pounds (approximately 3,450 kilograms) of cargo, supplies and scientific experiments. The crew is now scheduled to open Cygnus’ hatch and make initial ingress into the cargo module to begin unloading the pressurized cargo. Cygnus will remain docked at the station for approximately three months before departing on secondary missions.
“This launch marks a new innovative capability for Antares and Cygnus, which enables a 24-hour late load of critical cargo,” said Scott Lehr, vice president and general manager, flight systems, Northrop Grumman. “We are proud to partner with NASA to provide more commercial capabilities supporting their missions. Congratulations to the entire team on an excellent launch.”
The late cargo load capability provides NASA the opportunity to launch time-sensitive research experiments. For this launch, Northrop Grumman’s Antares medium-class rocket used more of its performance margin, increasing the vital cargo carried aboard Cygnus to approximately 7,600 pounds (3,450 kilograms), a record shipment for the rocket.