Northrop Grumman recently completed the final launch of its Cygnus spacecraft on the Antares rocket, marking a temporary hiatus until they return in a few years with an upgraded rocket and Cygnus spacecraft, as announced by the company.
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Early this morning, Northrop Grumman’s SS Sally Ride Cygnus spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station carrying 8,200 pounds of supplies for the seven crewmembers. However, the Cygnus is missing one of its now iconic circular solar panels due to an unknown failure.
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Have you ever woken up on a Monday morning and thought to yourself, “yeah, no, I don’t want to do anything,” and then you attempt to get up, and the day doesn’t stop punching? That was today for the space industry. We work up to a new report of Subtropical Storm Nicole making landfall on Florida’s Space Coast (just in time for Artemis 1 to be rolled out to the pad), Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft only having one solar panel deployed, and an absolutely terrible weather forecast for SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 launch.
I guess here’s the deal, Mondays suck not just for the average person but even for the most talented and intelligent people we know. I just got back from SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch on Saturday, and I hopefully plan to drive back down from Wisconsin for Artemis 1 and an airshow this Thursday, both of which could be canceled, so I guess the joke is on me?
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Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, we have been following how it will affect Northrop Grumman’s capability to launch its Antares rocket. Northrop Grumman has finally announced its solution to unavailable components in a partnership with Firefly Aerospace to supply engines and a new first stage to the Antares 330 rocket.
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On Saturday, February 19, Northrop Grumman launched an Antares 230+ rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The rocket carried a Cygnus spacecraft, S.S. Piers Sellers, which has since joined up with the International Space Station.
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A Northrop Grumman Antares 230+ is set to launch a Cygnus resupply vehicle to the International Space Station on February 19, 2022, at 12:40 p.m. EST. This Cygnus vehicle is named after former astronaut Piers Sellers.
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SpaceX has acquired two new ships to work on fairing recovery, Starliner will be destacked from Atlas, and a Cygnus spacecraft launched to the ISS.
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Today Northrop Grumman plans to launch their 16th Cygnus spacecraft from Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) for NASA. Today’s mission will see an Antares rocket launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station. It will deliver over 3,000 pounds of food, experiments, and other supplies to the station for its crew to use. The spacecraft will also conduct experiments on its way to and after departing the space station.
Date: Tuesday, August 10th at 6:01 p.m. EDT
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Cygnus continues a tradition in naming their spacecraft after people that have made great contributions to the spaceflight industry either as engineers or astronauts. With the upcoming launch slated to take place February 20th, Northrop Grumman named its next mission after the great mathematician Katherine Johnson.
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Since 2012 SpaceX and Northrop Grumman (then Orbital ATK) have been providing supplies to the International Space Station. The first CRS contract brought us rockets like the Antares and Falcon 9 and without this funding, neither would exist. Today NASA continues that venture to build up the private space sector with the CRS-2 contract.
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October 1, 2020: Scrubbed two minutes before liftoff due to off nominal data. Next attempt as soon as 24 hours later.
Following Delta IV Heavy and Falcon 9 launch scrubs, a third rocket is scheduled for liftoff from the East Coast of the United States this week. Northrop Grumman will launch its Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft from Wallops Island in Virginia between 9:38 and 9:43 p.m. ET tonight.
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