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The first mission of Northrop Grumman’s big new cargo spacecraft is almost over.
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Cygnus XL launched on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 14 Septemberwhich carries about 11,000 pounds (4,990 kilograms) of scientific equipment and other supplies towards the ISS.
The large cargo explains the new freighter’s name: Previous versions of Cygnus hauled around 8,500 pounds (3,856 kg) to the track lab.
Cygnus XL had a few hiccups on its debut mission, suffering from an engine failure on the way to the station. The spacecraft – named SS William “Willie” McCool, after one of the seven astronauts who died in 2003 space shuttle Columbia accident — however, overcame the problem by arriving at the ISS on 18 Septembera day later than originally planned.
The orbiting outpost’s Canadarm2 grabbed the Cygnus XL that day, and attached it to the Unity module. The large robotic arm will also be at work Thursday, removing the SS William “Willie” McCool from Unity and then dropping it “to Earth’s orbit for a fiery but safe re-entry over the South Pacific two days later,” NASA officials wrote in a update on Tuesday (March 10).
Cygnus is one of four robotic cargo spacecraft serving the ISS these days, along with SpaceX Dragon capsule, Russia’s Progress vehicle and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) HTV-X. Dragon is reusable, but the other three burn up Earth’s atmosphere when their mission is over.
The HTV-X – a more advanced version of the Japanese HTV freighter – has just completed its first ever visit to the orbital laboratory, departure on March 6 after a four-month stay. That cargo craft will remain in orbit as a free flyer for the next three months or so, carrying a package with it JAXA scientific experiments.
