Orbital ATK returns to flight more than a year after explosion

The mission, flown for Orbital ATK under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract, marks the first time the Cygnus has flown on an Atlas V rocket.

Orbital ATK’s Cygnus Spacecraft carrying vital cargo to resupply the International Space Station lifts-off aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Everything came together on the fourth launch attempt, allowing the unmanned Atlas to blast off with 7,400 pounds of space station cargo, not to mention some Christmas presents for the awaiting crew.

The launch of the privately developed Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft began the company’s fourth operational cargo resupply mission, named CRS-4, under a commercial resupply services (CRS) contract to NASA. In October 2014, a Cygnus shipment was lost when Orbital’s Antares rocket failed due to flaws in one of its Russian-made engines.

The capsule carries more than 3,500kg (7,700lb) of food, clothing, computer gear, spacewalk equipment, science experiments and other supplies. Next stop: “@Space_Station”, Orbital ATK tweeted.

Cygnus separated from its Atlas V booster about 21 minutes after launching into orbit.

According to it, the investigations will offer a new life science facility that will support studies on cell cultures, bacteria and other microorganisms, a microsatellite deployer and the first microsatellite that will be deployed from the space station, and experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids and clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel and evaluations of flame-resistant textiles. Cygnus will remain attached to the station for approximately 50 days before departing with roughly 5,050 pounds (2,300 kilograms) of disposable cargo for a safe, destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean. In January, SpaceX is set to launch an uncrewed Dragon capsule to the station for the first time since June’s failure.

“This is the first berthing to the Node 1 nadir in quite some years”, said Kirk Shireman, NASA’s space station program manager, noting the relocation of a pressurized module in May, which freed up use of the port.

Cygnus flights to the Space Station were grounded due to the Antares explosion in 2014.

The Cygnus will now carry out a series of maneuvers to boost it into an intercept orbit with the ISS, which it will rendezvous with on Wednesday, December 9. “NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, using the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to take hold of the spacecraft”.

Just after 6 p.m., engineers confirmed that the cylindrical spacecraft’s two solar arrays had unfurled like Japanese fans, ensuring they could generate the power needed to complete the mission.

Still, this flight will bring some goodies of its own when it docks on Thursday: “I’m guessing that Santa’s sleigh is somewhere inside the Cygnus”, Culbertson added.

“The spacecraft is in great shape”, Frank DeMauro, Orbital’s Vice President of Human Space Systems said on NASA TV on Friday.