Cygnus Solar Arrays Deployed Successfully

Orbital ATK’s Cygnus has deployed its solar arrays.

This file photo, taken from the International Space Station, shows an Orbital ATK Cygnus resupply ship with its cymbal-like UltraFlex solar arrays approaching the ISS in November 2017. Credit: NASA
The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft aboard, launches from Pad-0A, Monday, May 21, 2018, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Credit: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility/Allison Stancil

The Cygnus lifted off aboard Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket at 4:44:06 a.m. EDT  from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The International Space Station-bound Cygnus is loaded with about 7,400 pounds of supplies and payloads, including critical materials to directly support dozens of the more than 250 science and research investigations that will occur during the space station’s Expeditions 55 and 56.

Live NASA TV coverage will resume for a post-launch briefing at 7 a.m. EDT.

The CRS-9 Cygnus is scheduled to arrive at the space station Thursday, May 24.

2 thoughts on “Cygnus Solar Arrays Deployed Successfully”

  1. Hi there,

    Would we have seen this from the UK? My 5 year old daughter, said she saw a spaceship whilst we were driving to school near Worcester at approx 8.50AM GMT I was driving but it certainly looked different to any other aircraft. It was very high in the sky (clear blue skies) and had a ‘trail’ of 3 streams of vapour and seemed to be climbing v high.

    1. The trajectory of the Antares CRS-9 launch is such that the UK does not have local viewing opportunities.

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