Category: Orbital ATK

With Cygnus in its proper orbit and set up to fly on its own to the International Space Station, officials from NASA, Orbital ATK which built and flies Cygnus, and United Launch Alliance, which operates the Atlas V launch vehicle, offered congratulations to the flight teams and work that went into the flawless countdown and liftoff.

“Clearly this team was ready to go do this launch tonight,” said Kenneth Todd, the space station’s Operations Integration manager. “The ISS is ready and the crew is ready.”

The countdown and flight proceeded smoothly, something that did not go unnoticed.

“We all know it takes a lot of hard work to make it look easy and the team did that,” said Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK’s Space Systems Group.

ULA’s Vern Thorp put the 21-minute flight to orbit into perspective: That’s faster than most pizza deliveries,” he said.

Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

The twin solar arrays of the Cygnus spacecraft have begun their deployment, the Orbital ATK mission control team reports.

The twin solar arrays on the side of Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft are to deploy shortly as the spacecraft continues to travel through space on its way to the International Space Station.

The Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft is coasting through space tonight an hour after launch. The two solar arrays on the Cygnus are to unfurl later tonight. Among the 7,500 pounds of experiments, gear and supplies aboard the Cygnus spacecraft now flying to the space station are several research efforts involving different areas of study. For instance, the Strata-1 project, above, will see how the regolith – or soil – on asteroids and other bodies with virtually no gravity behave in space. Another project called Gecko Grippers, shown below, are testing an adhesive method inspired by the microscopic hairs on a gecko’s feet. There is a lot more to both of the projects and others packed inside the Cygnus and you can read about them here.

Check out a replay of the Orbital ATK CRS-6 launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V as reported by NASA TV.

Tonight’s launch punctuated a clean countdown for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft. The two solar arrays on the Cygnus will open in about an hour, but right now the spacecraft is exactly where it needs to be and is in position to catch up to the International Space Station for a rendezvous and berthing Saturday morning.

The final phase of tonight’s countdown is underway at T-4 minutes and counting. We are heading for a liftoff at 11:05 p.m. EDT.

The Cygnus spacecraft at the top of the Atlas V rocket is switching to internal power, the launch team reports. That means it will run on its own batteries for the rest of the countdown and flight into orbit. Once flying on its own, the Cygnus will unfurl a pair of circular solar arrays and begin recharging the batteries using the sun’s energy.

 

The CRS-6 mission boasts numerous opportunities for critical research into numerous areas and technologies. With the countdown in a planned hold at T-4 minutes but still on schedule for a 11:05 p.m. EDT liftoff, here is a look at the mission ahead for the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft and United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

At T-4 minutes, the countdown has paused for a planned hold lasting half-an-hour. Everything is on pace for a liftoff at 11:05 p.m. EDT, including the weather and tonight’s tanking process loading fuel and oxidizers into the two stages of the Atlas V rocket. The team will receive the final launch weather forecast from the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing. Then launch teams for NASA, Orbital ATK , and United Launch Alliance will conduct their final polls ahead of the liftoff.