A Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo craft with its two cymbal-shaped UltraFlex solar arrays deployed approaches the International Space Station on Aug. 6, 2024. Photo: NASA
NASA and Northrop Grumman have postponed the planned arrival of the Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft at the International Space Station as mission teams work through an alternate approach to ensure a safe rendezvous with the orbiting outpost after an engine issue on the spacecraft. Originally scheduled to reach the station on Wednesday, September 17, Cygnus’s new arrival date is still under review.
The delay resulted from an issue early Tuesday morning when Cygnus XL’s main engine shut down earlier than expected during two planned orbital adjustment burns. These burns were critical to positioning the spacecraft for its approach to the ISS. Despite the premature shutdown, all other systems aboard Cygnus XL are functioning normally, according to NASA officials.
Cygnus XL is carrying over 11,000 pounds of scientific experiments, crew supplies, and hardware for the orbiting laboratory. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim is set to capture the vehicle using the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, with NASA astronaut Zena Cardman serving as backup. Once secured, Cygnus will be berthed to the Earth-facing port of the Unity module, where it will remain until March 2026.
The vehicle launched at 6:11 PM ET on September 14 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission, designated Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23 (CRS-23), is part of NASA’s ongoing partnership with commercial providers to maintain a steady flow of cargo and research to the ISS.
Flight controllers are currently evaluating an alternative trajectory plan to ensure a safe and successful docking in the coming days. NASA will provide updates as a revised schedule is confirmed.
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft awaits its capture by the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, commanded by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick on Aug. 6, 2024. Credit: NASA
SpaceX is planning to launch Falcon 9 and the Northrup-Grumman CRS-2 mission towards low Earth orbit and the International Space Station this evening. Shortly afterward, the Space Coast will hear a sonic boom as the booster returns to land at Cape Canaveral.
Launch time is scheduled for 6:11:48 PM ET in an instantaneous window. As is standard for most launches to Station, should weather or technical reasons prevent a launch at the time, SpaceX will be forced to stand down and wait for the next window tomorrow.
Payload
Tonight’s mission will be the Cygnus XL variant of Northrup-Gruman’s cargo delivery spacecraft. The XL is a “stretched” version that offers significantly more cargo volume and payload mass compared to earlier Cygnus versions. Specifically, it increases the cargo-carrying capacity by approximately 1,250 kg (roughly 33%) over the baseline, bringing its total payload capacity to around 5,000 kg (11,000 pounds) of pressurized cargo.
Among the research payloads are experiments for growing semiconductor crystals in microgravity, tools to refine technologies for cryogenic fuel tanks (which are critical for future space missions), and a UV light system designed to limit microbial growth in the station’s water systems. Also aboard are supplies for pharmaceutical crystal development with implications for cancer and other disease treatments. No ice cream this time, we checked and did not see it mentioned in NASA’s manifest.
Weather
Compared to other missions of late, the Launch Mission Execution Forecast from the 45th Weather Squadron of Space Launch Delta 45 is almost optimistic: 75% GO at launch time.
Trajectory
Northeast on the well-worn path to ISS:
Streaming Options
NASA will livestream the launch on NASA-TV. Coverage starts about 20-30 minutes before liftoff.
Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link
Please note that there is a delay between the launch stream and the actual countdown clock if you are watching in person. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.
For official updates regarding launch times, SpaceX.com is the best source of information. Starlink launch times change from time to time, and the company generally updates their website within minutes of the decision to change the launch time. This is very handy if none of the streaming options on YouTube have started their broadcasts.
Next Space Flight an app for iOS and Android phones, has a real-time countdown clock that is accurate to a second, give or take. The app is free. Search the App Store or Google Play. They are also available online at nextspaceflight.com.
A Falcon booster returning to land at Cape Canaveral Photo: Charles Boyer
Launch Viewing: In Person
Since the launch is during the early evening, a lot of options are available for spectators: Jetty Park, the Banana River Bridge on FL 528 W or the southern Titusville parks on Washington Avenue / US-1 are your best bets. Jetty Park will have the best view of the booster return, but not as spectacular a view of liftoff. On the other hand, Titusville parks will have the opposite: a great view of liftoff but not as close as Jetty Park for the landing.
Playalinda Beach is several miles north of the launch pad, but ignition and of course the flight of the rocket and its return are visible from that location. If you go, go early in case the crowds are heavy.
Other options include The Space Bar, a rooftop bar at the Courtyard By Marriott in Titusville. It offers great views of the launches and a full bar and menu. Other options include New York, New York on the Indian River in Titusville, but if you want to grab a bite, go early, because their kitchen usually closes for the day around 6:30 PM.
File photo of a Falcon 9 lifting off from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Photo: Charles Boyer
On Tuesday, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral, sending over 8,000 pounds of supplies aboard a Northrup Grumman Cygnus cargo craft to the International Space Station. This was NG’s 20th resupply mission.
Enjoy this 4K video with Surround Sound of the launch, as it was seen from inside the fence at Pad SLC-40. The video was created by the author:
SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Northrup Grumman NG-20 Cygnus launches from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral on January 30, 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying the Northrup Grumman NG-20 mission towards ISS this afternoon. The launch was at 12:07 PM EST from the company’s launch pad at SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and once it had completed its part of the mission, Booster 1077 completed its tenth flight when it safely touched down at Landing Zone 1, about 5.6 miles to the south of where it launched a little more than eight minutes earlier.
A previous Cygnus space craft in the grasp of ISS’s Canadarm2. Photo: NASA
Today’s launch was the first of three that Northrup Grumman has contracted with SpaceX, and is the twentieth ISS resupply mission that the company has flown. According to NASA, the Cygnus cargo spacecraft is carrying 3,017 pounds of experiments, 2,493 pounds of hardware, 2,490 pounds of crew supplies, 149 pounds of computer resources and 35 pounds of spacewalk equipment.
SpaceX Performs Late-Load For First Time
Some of that cargo was loaded in the past 24 hours — foodstuffs (ice cream for the astronauts is rumored to be that portion of the payload) as well as some of the materials for science experiments required a “late-load,” which is a new capability for SpaceX that necessitated a one-delay from the initial planned launch date of January 29.
“We’re going to do a late-load activity into the Cygnus vehicle [so] we modified the fairing that’s the covering that goes on the outside of the Falcon rocket to include a 5-foot by 4-foot wide door. It essentially allows us to enter into the fairing area and put late-load car cargo in,” William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s vice president ofBuild and Flight Reliability, said in a news conference on January 26th.
Booster B1077 descending towards its landing on Tuesday January 30, 2024 Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Cygnus is expected to arrive at the International Space Station, where it will be docked to the orbiting facility’s Unity module by astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli.
Arrival At Space Station Will Be On Thursday
Now in orbit, the Cygnus cargo spacecraft will arrive at the International astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli will grapple it using ISS’s Canadarm 2 robotic arm, and the crew will then dock Cygnus to the Unity module. Following some normal checkouts, later, astronauts will then open the hatch to Cygnus and will begin to unload the cargo within the spacecraft.
The Cygus spacecraft is expected to stay at the International Space Station for up to six months. The spacecraft may perform additional services such as reboosting the station’s orbit to counteract atmospheric drag. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus provides the only U.S. spacecraft reboost capability for the International Space Station.
More Photos
Liftoff As Seen Around The Space Coast
Click on the photo to see it full size on your device.
Falcon 9 in flight as it approaches the speed of sound. Photo: Richard Gallagher / Florida Media NowFalcon 9 lifting off from SLC-40 in Cape Canaveral. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of TitusvilleA vapor cone at the top of Falcon 9 caused by adiabatic cooling. Photo: Richard Gallagher / Florida Media NowLiftoff of Falcon 9 as seen from the NASA Press Site. Photo: Richard Gallagher, Florida Media NowA “light-saber” timelapse of Falcon 9’s liftoff. Photo: Chris Leymarie, Florida Media NowFalcon 9 touching down at Landing Zone 1. Photo: Ed Cordero, Florida Media NowFalcon 9 lifts off, as seen from the NASA Press Site. Photo: Charles Boyer, Talk of TitusvilleBooster 1077 descending towards landing, as seen from NASA Press Site. Photo: Charles Boyer, Talk of TitusvilleFalcon 9 lifts off. As seen from SLC-40, Charles Boyer, Talk of TitusvilleFalcon 9 lifts off. As seen from KARS Park. Photo: Ed Cordero, Florida Media NowBooster 1077 descending in freefall. Photo: Ed Cordero, Florida Media NowBooster 1077’s landing burn at LZ-1. Photo: Ed Cordero, Florida Media Now
The launch of Northrup-Grumman’s Cygnus NG-20 has been delayed until Tuesday, January 30th at 12:07 PM EST.
William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s vice president ofBuild and Flight Reliability, said in a news conference on January 26th that, “it’s taken a lot of modifications on our part to get this hardware ready to go fly, and we want to make sure it goes right. We think it is good to delay a little bit and make sure we get all this activity right and we’re ready to get this cargo inserted into Cygnus and get ready to fly on Tuesday.”
The launch is scheduled for 12:07 PM EST with an instantaneous window from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-40. Approximately eight minutes after launching, the booster used for this mission will return to the Cape to land at LZ-1, SpaceX’s landing facility located about 5.6 miles to the south of the launch pad. For more information about Cygnus and its cargo, see our original article regarding the launch here.
The Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft’s pressurized cargo module (PCM) for the company’s 20th commercial resupply mission is lifted and moved by crane inside the high bay in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023. The next step is vehicle processing for the mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will be from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. Photo: NASA
Northrup-Grumman’s Cygnus CRS-2 will will be the 20th resupply mission carried out as part of NG’s Commercial Resupply contract with NASA, and will ferry supplies for the station’s crew, equipment, as well as new scientific experiments to the orbiting outpost.
After having flown on Atlas V and their Antares booster, Northrup Grumman is launching on a SpaceX rocket for the first time, and to launch the voluminous Cygnus spacecraft, SpaceX has been required to make some changes to Falcon 9 fairings and launch equipment. In order to be sure that those changes were completed correctly, the company delayed the launch by at least one day.
SpaceX Modifications To Launch Cygnus
“We’re completing some modifications to the launchpad to to get it ready to to go fly. We still have quite a bit of work in front of us,” Gerstenmaier said on Friday.
After having flown on Atlas V and their Antares booster, Northrup Grumman is launching on a SpaceX rocket for the first time, and to launch the voluminous Cygnus spacecraft, SpaceX has been required to make some changes to Falcon 9 fairings and launch equipment. In order to be sure that those changes were completed correctly, SpaceX delayed the launch by at least one day.
“We’re going to do a late-load activity into the Cygnus vehicle [so] we modified the fairing that’s the covering that goes on the outside of the Falcon rocket to include a 5-foot by 4-foot wide door. It essentially allows us to enter into the fairing area and put late-load car cargo in,” Gerstenmaier said.
He then continued, “Some of [the payload’s components] are going to be delivered in this late-load cargo that goes through this new hatch we put in place. It’s it’s more than just a hatch, actually, we have an environmentally controlled area so we don’t bring any kind of debris or contamination in.”
SpaceX has added clean-room facilities to accommodate those requirements, in addition to the fairing modifications that Gerstenmaier mentions above. That said, it is understandable why the company wants to ensure that it completes every item remaining on its checklist for releasing those modifications to an actual flight without the pressure of a looming launch deadline.
“The front part of Cygnus is very sensitive as it bursts to station,” Gerstenmaier said. “There’s some rings that seal it to [the] space station. We cannot contaminate those rings, we have to make sure that the cargo is delivered safely through this door into the fairing and then carefully placed inside Cygnus for launch, so that’s a pretty intense activity this will be the first time we’ve done that.”
“It’s taken a lot of modifications on our part to get this hardware ready to go fly we want to make sure it’s right, so we think it’s it’s good to delay a little bit and make sure that we get all this activity right, and we’re ready to get this cargo safely inserted into Cygnus and get it ready to fly on Tuesday,” Gerstenmaier concluded.
Northrup-Grumman’s Booster Issues
Initially, the Commercial Resupply Services contract that NG is fulfilling was by Orbital Sciences, then Orbital-ATK after a merger, and finally Northrup Grumman when it acquired Orbital-ATK. With the CRS contract, Northrup Grumman inherited the Antares series of boosters, with the last flight of Antares being on August 1, 2023.
An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen on launch Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Monday, January 6, 2014 in advance of the launch on Thursday, January 9th. Photo: NASA
After retiring the Antares series due to supply issues — the first stage was manufactured by Ukrainian companies Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash, and Russian firm NPO Energomash manufactured the booster’s two RD-181 engines — Northrop announced that it would develop a new first stage and engines for the Antares launch vehicle in a collaboration with Cedar Park, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace. The new rocket has been dubbed Antares-330 and is now expected to first fly in 2025.
The Tuesday launch will be the first of three contracted with SpaceX to launch Cygnus.
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