NASA TV live commentary has resumed for coverage of solar array deployment on Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft. The deployment begins at roughly 6 a.m. EDT and lasts about 30 minutes.
The Cygnus lifted off aboard Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket at 4:44 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.
The CRS-9 Cygnus is scheduled to arrive at the space station Thursday, May 24.