Category: Orbital ATK

Good evening from Florida’s Space Coast, where an Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft is poised to lift some 7,500 pounds of scientific gear and supplies to the International Space Station! Launch is on schedule for 11:05 p.m. EDT, the start of a 30-minute launch window. You can follow along with all the milestones in the countdown here and on NASA TV, which is available online at www.nasa.gov/nasatv. 

Protected inside a payload fairing that will separate a few minutes after launch, the Cygnus stands atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station adjacent to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Dozens of scientific studies will be conducted by the Expedition 47 and 48 crews of the station using the equipment onboard the Cygnus. We’ll detail some of the experiments for you as the night progresses with looks at research focused on fire in space, adhesive technology research and studies of how regolith – or soil – behaves in microgravity.

Here’s a look at some of the countdown milestones tonight as the launch team proceeds toward a liftoff.
10:19 p.m. – Initiate fuel fill sequence
10:31 p.m. – Begin 30 minute hold at T-4 Minutes
10:35 p.m. – Weather Briefing
10:58 p.m. – Status check to continue countdown
11:01 p.m. – Countdown resumes at T-4 Minutes
11:05 p.m. – Launch

Photo credit: ULA

Tonight’s countdown to the launch of Orbital ATK’s CRS-6 mission to the International Space Station is progressing smoothly toward an 11:05 p.m. EDT liftoff. Cryogenic tanking is underway now as the weather forecast remains 90 percent “go.” The Cygnus spacecraft is set to lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, carrying nearly 7,500 pounds of supplies and science investigations. Our continuous countdown and launch coverage will beg in at 10 p.m. here and on NASA TV.  Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

Meteorologists with the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing offered an improved forecast for Tuesday night’s launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft and more than 3 1/2 tons of experiments and supplies to the International Space Station. Launch time is 11:05 p.m. EDT, the start of a 3-minute window. For continuing updates, you can subscribe to this blog, log on to www.nasa.gov/orbitalatk, and read NASA and NASAKennedy’s Social Media accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

Our continuous countdown coverage will begin here on the Launch Blog and on NASA TV tomorrow at 10 p.m. We will follow all the milestones as the launch team executes their meticulous steps leading up to liftoff, then the climb into orbit and culminating with the separation of the Cygnus and the unfurling of its twin solar arrays. Photo credit: NASA/Dimitrios Gerondidakis

Forecasters are calling for an 80 percent chance of acceptable conditions at launch time for the launch of Orbital ATK’s CRS-6 mission to carry experiments and supplies to the International Space Station. The primary concern is cumulus clouds during the 30-minute launch window that opens at 11:05 p.m. EDT. The Launch Readiness Review found no issues and gave a go for rollout of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft on Monday. We have a couple of new features on this mission and its scientific payloads. For details on the scientific research carried on this mission, go to http://go.nasa.gov/1YWYrQv. You also can read the pre-launch feature at http://go.nasa.gov/1R4e4Tc

Photo credit: NASA/Dimitrios Gerondidakis

Expedition 46 astronauts Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra of NASA commanded the International Space Station’s Candadarm2 robotic arm to release the Cygnus spacecraft at 7:26 a.m. EST while the space station was flying above Bolivia. Earlier, ground controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center had maneuvered Cygnus into place for its departure.

Once the spacecraft is a safe distance from the station, its engines will fire twice, pushing it into Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up over the Pacific Ocean. The deorbit burn and re-entry of Cygnus will not air on NASA TV.

The Cygnus resupply craft arrived to the space station on Dec. 9, following Dec. 6 launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, for the company’s fourth NASA-contracted commercial station resupply mission.

Experiments delivered on Cygnus supported NASA and other research investigations during Expeditions 45 and 46, in areas such as biology, biotechnology, and physical and Earth science — research that impacts life on Earth. For more about the International Space Station, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/station

NASA TV is airing the release of the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station this morning. The uncrewed spacecraft flew to the station in December loaded with supplies and equipment for the crew. Now holding only trash and expended hardware, the Cygnus was unberthed earlier today using the station’s robotic arm. Cygnus will guide itself into Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up.

Release from the station’s Unity module is scheduled for 7:25 a.m. Watch live on NASA TV or online: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv. Join the conversation on Twitter by following @Space_Station. To learn more about all the ways to connect and collaborate with NASA, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/connect

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V first stage that will help launch the Orbital ATK Cygnus pressurized cargo module is offloaded from ULA’s Delta Mariner barge (above) Feb. 5 at Port Canaveral in Florida.

The booster was transported to the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center (right) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to prepare for the upcoming launch of the Orbital ATK Commercial Resupply Services OA-6 flight to the International Space Station. The Cygnus module will carry hardware and supplies to the space station. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

A transporter carries the Orbital ATK Cygnus pressurized cargo module, sealed inside a shipping container, to the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The module will soon begin preflight preparations for its upcoming mission to carry hardware and supplies on the company’s Commercial Resupply Services flight to the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Charles Babir