Northrop Grumman Cygnus Cargo Ship Departure | International Space Station

Northrop Grumman Cygnus Cargo Ship Departure | International Space Station

On July 12, 2024, the S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft was released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm. It had detached Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the International Space Station’s Unity module earlier. At the time of release, the station was flying about 260 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean.

The Cygnus spacecraft successfully departed the International Space Station more than five and a half months after arriving at the microgravity laboratory to deliver about 8,200 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo for NASA.

The Kentucky Re-entry Probe Experiment-2 (KREPE-2), stowed inside Cygnus, later recorded measurements to demonstrate a thermal protection system for spacecraft and their contents during re-entry in Earth’s atmosphere. This can be difficult to replicate in ground simulations.

Following a deorbit engine firing on Saturday, July 13, Cygnus began its planned destructive re-entry. The spacecraft—filled with trash packed by the station crew—"safely burn up" in Earth’s atmosphere.

Cygnus arrived at the space station Feb. 1, following a launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. It was the company’s 20th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station for NASA. The spacecraft is named the S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson in honor of the former NASA astronaut.

Expedition 71 Updates:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 71 Crew

Station Commander: Oleg Kononenko (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin (Russia)

NASA: Tracy Dyson, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: July 12, 2024 

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