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.