Cygnus cargo ship departs space station

[Buster's Uncle]

Orbital cargo ship departs space station
AFP
3 hours ago



The Antares rocket launches from Pad-0A with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on July 13, 2014 (AFP Photo/Bill Ingalls)



Washington (AFP) - Orbital Sciences Corporation's unmanned Cygnus cargo ship left the International Space Station Friday on its way to a fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

The spacecraft was released from the orbiting lab at 6:40 am (1040 GMT), NASA said in a live broadcast of the event.

"Cygnus is free of the International Space Station," a NASA commentator said.

The spaceship will stay in orbit until Sunday morning, when it will fire its engines and push its way into Earth's atmosphere.

The de-orbit burn is scheduled for 8:33 am (1233 GMT) Sunday and the spacecraft should burn up at 9:11 am.

The crew on board the space station plans to document the spacecraft's plasma trail.

The cargo ship launched July 13 and arrived at the ISS three days later, bearing a load of 3,653 pounds (1,657 kilograms) of gear, food and science experiments.

The resupply mission is part of a billion dollar contract with NASA for multiple journeys to the ISS.


http://news.yahoo.com/orbital-cargo-ship-departs-space-station-111316030.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Space station supply ship exits, now packing trash
Associated Press
By MARCIA DUNN  10 hours ago



This TV image provided by NASA-TV shows the Orbital Sciences Cygnus resupply cargo vehicle being released from the robotic arm on the International Space Statioin early Friday morning Aug. 15, 2014 near the southwest coast of Africa. (AP Photo/NASA)



CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A commercial cargo ship has ended its month long space station visit.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station released the Cygnus supply ship, now full of trash for disposal early Friday. They parted company 260 miles above Africa's southwest coast.

Orbital Sciences Corp. launched the Cygnus from Virginia in mid-July under a NASA contract. The unmanned craft hauled more than 3,000 pounds of crucial cargo to the orbiting outpost. Now it's loaded with rubbish, some 3,500 pounds' worth.

"All the best wishes," German spaceman Alexander Gerst radioed to the company's flight controllers.

On Sunday, the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences will steer the craft down through the atmosphere to burn up. The six space station astronauts will attempt to record the fiery re-entry for engineering analysis. The same documentation will be done when a European supply ship departs early next year. That ship, launched from French Guiana, delivered its shipment just a few days ago.

NASA and its international partners — Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada — want to learn as much about atmospheric re-entry as possible to prepare for the space station's eventual demise in the decade or two ahead.



This TV image provided by NASA-TV shows the Orbital Sciences Cygnus resupply cargo vehicle, now full of trash for disposal, released from the International Space Statioin early Friday morning Aug. 15, 2014 near the southwest coast of Africa. (AP Photo/NASA)


Orbital Sciences Corp. is one of two U.S. companies hired by NASA to deliver space station goods. The California-based SpaceX will make its next supply run next month.

___

Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html#.U-3mj_ldWSo

Orbital Sciences: http://www.orbital.com/


http://news.yahoo.com/space-station-supply-ship-exits-now-packing-trash-110218613.html

[Geo]

Trash goes down the gravity well, all good things stay up.
Oh, wait, astro -cosmo -taikonauts eventually godown as well.