Orbital Sciences cargo ship arrives at space station

[Buster's Uncle]

Orbital Sciences cargo ship arrives at space station
Reuters
By Irene Klotz  4 hours ago



CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Orbital Sciences Corp, one of two companies hired by U.S. space agency NASA to make supply runs to the International Space Station, delivered its first cargo ship on Sunday, a NASA TV broadcast showed.

Space station flight engineer Mike Hopkins used the outpost's 60-foot-long (18 meter) robotic arm to pluck a Cygnus freighter capsule from orbit at 6:08 a.m. EST (1108 GMT) as the two ships sailed 264 miles (425 km) over the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar.

"A big sigh of relief for Orbital," said astronaut and NASA TV commentator Catherine "Cady" Coleman from Mission Control in Houston.

About two hours later, Hopkins latched the capsule, which is about the size of a small bus, to a docking port on the space station's Harmony module.

The capsule is loaded with 3,221 pounds (1,461 kg) of food, equipment, science experiments and supplies for the station, including computers and replacement parts for NASA's spacesuits.

Several commercial payloads also are aboard the Cygnus freighter, including a "CubeSat" launcher owned by Houston-based NanoRacks. CubeSats are 4-inch-sided (10 cm), standardized, relatively inexpensive spacecraft. They produce their own power, transmit signals and are used for a variety of scientific purposes. Individual CubeSats can be configured to fly together.

The launcher will be operated from Japan's Kibo module, which includes a small airlock, robotic arm and external platform. The Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency already operates a similar CubeSat launcher.

The Cygnus capsule is scheduled to remain docked to the outpost for about 45 days, and will be unpacked, then refilled with trash and items no longer needed aboard the station.

Astronauts will then use the station's robot arm to remove the capsule and release it into orbit so it can drive itself into the atmosphere for incineration.

Orbital Sciences (NYS:ORB) and privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, have NASA contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion for a total of 20 cargo flights to the space station, a $100 billion research complex owned by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.

Orbital Sciences made a successful test flight to the station in September. On Thursday, the Virginia-based company launched the first of eight paid missions for NASA. SpaceX meanwhile is preparing for its third cargo run on February 22.

NASA hired the companies following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011. The U.S. space agency also is managing a heated three-way competition between SpaceX, Boeing Co (BA.N) and privately owned Sierra Nevada Corp, to develop spaceships to fly astronauts.

NASA hopes to break the Russian government's monopoly on station crew taxi flights by 2017.

Rides on Russian Soyuz capsules currently cost the United States more than $60 million per person. The price will rise to more than $70 million in 2016.

NASA meanwhile is developing a heavy-lift rocket and capsule for future human missions into deep space, such as the moon and Mars beyond the station's orbit.


http://news.yahoo.com/orbital-sciences-cargo-ship-arrives-143142010.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Christmas delivery finally for space station
Associated Press
By MARCIA DUNN  5 hours ago



In this image from video provided by NASA the Cygnus resupply spacecraft approaches the International Space Station early Sunday Jan. 12, 2013. The spacecraft is expected to arrive on the station later this morning. It is packed with 3,000 pounds of equipment and experiments provided by NASA, as well as food and even some ants for an educational project. Christmas presents also are on board for the six space station residents; the delivery is a month late. (AP Photo/NASA)



CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Christmas has finally arrived for the six space station astronauts.

A privately launched supply ship reached the International Space Station on Sunday morning, three days after blasting off from Virginia. The space station crew used a hefty robot arm to capture the Cygnus capsule as the two craft zoomed side by side at 17,500 mph.

The Cygnus is carrying 3,000 pounds of equipment and experiments for NASA, including ants for an educational project. Also on board: eagerly awaited Christmas presents from the families of all six spacemen as well as some fresh fruit courtesy of NASA.

NASA is relying on private industry to keep the orbiting lab well stocked in this post-shuttle era and, in four more years, possibly supply rides for U.S. astronauts as well.

Orbital Sciences Corp. was supposed to make the delivery last month, well before Christmas, but the Virginia company had to wait. A space station breakdown in mid-December took priority, and NASA bumped the flight to January in order to repair the disabled cooling system at the orbiting outpost. Then, frigid weather at the launch site forced a delay. Then a strong solar storm interfered.

Flight controllers for Orbital Sciences, wearing mostly red company shirts, broke into applause once robot arm operator Michael Hopkins grabbed onto the Cygnus, more than 260 miles above the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar. Within two hours, the capsule was bolted to the space station.



In this image from video provided by NASA the Cygnus spacecraft resupply vehicle approaches the International Space Station


Because of the long day, the astronauts were supposed to wait until Monday before opening the hatch to Cygnus. But with presents from their families awaiting them, there was no telling whether they would oblige.

As a holiday treat, NASA stashed away the fruit for the two Americans, three Russians and one Japanese, and Orbital Sciences included a few surprises of its own.

This is the second visit by an Orbital Sciences cargo ship. The first was a test run last September; this one is the first official supply run under a $1.9 billion contract with NASA.

"I've been up here on station for about 3½ months," Hopkins said, "and I've seen two Orbital vehicles in that time, and I think that's very impressive. So congratulations to everyone."

The Cygnus will be filled with trash and cut loose for a fiery, destructive re-entry in mid-February.

NASA is paying Orbital Sciences and the California-based SpaceX company to supply the space station. SpaceX will make its fourth delivery next month, launching from Cape Canaveral. Russia, Japan and Europe also make periodic deliveries.

Russia is the lone means of astronaut transport, however, until SpaceX or another American company is able to fly humans. NASA estimates that should occur by 2017.

This Cygnus is named for the late shuttle astronaut C. Gordon Fullerton, who helped conduct air-launched rockets for Orbital Sciences in the 1990s. He died in August at age 76 following a stroke. Sunday's successful linkup is a testament to Fullerton's career, both Hopkins and Mission Control noted.

"Gordo was an American hero," Mission Control said.


http://news.yahoo.com/christmas-delivery-finally-space-station-110852990.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Private Cargo Ship Delivers Gifts, Ants to Space Station Crew
SPACE.com
by Tariq Malik, Managing Editor  5 hours ago



The Orb-1 Cygnus cargo ship built by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is seen at the end of a robotic arm



A privately launched cargo ship packed with late Christmas presents and space-traveling ants linked up with the International Space Station on Sunday (Jan. 12) in a milestone delivery mission for the astronauts onboard.

Space station astronauts used a robotic arm to capture the unmanned Cygnus spacecraft early Sunday morning and attach it an open docking port as both spacecraft sailed 260 miles (418 kilometers) above Earth. The special delivery comes courtesy of the Dulles, Va.-company Orbital Sciences Corporation, which launched the Cygnus spacecraft on Thursday (Jan. 9) to make its first commercial resupply mission to the station for NASA.

The Cygnus spacecraft is carrying 2,780 lbs. (1,260 kilograms) of gear for the space station crew, including fresh fruit and Christmas gifts. It is also delivering eight ant farms to the station for weightlessness research, 23 student experiments and small cubesat satellites among the science gear.

"The cargo is comprised of vital science experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and other hardware," NASA officials said in a statement. "One newly arrived investigation will study the decreased effectiveness of antibiotics during spaceflight. Another will examine how different fuel samples burn in microgravity, which could inform future design for spacecraft materials."

The mission was originally slated for a mid-December launch, but Orbital Sciences officials and NASA delayed the flight to January when a cooling system malfunction on the station forced astronauts to perform emergency spacewalk repairs.



Orbital Sciences' Cygnus commercial cargo ship is on its final approach to the International Space Station


Bitter cold temperatures and a surprise solar flare added extra delays last week, with the Cygnus spacecraft finally launching on Thursday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. It lifted off atop an Orbital-built Antares rocket.

Despite the delay, Sunday's arrival appeared to go flawlessly, with astronauts Mike Hopkins of NASA and Koichi Wakata of Japan — both flight engineers with the station's six-man Expedition 38 crew —easily latching onto the Cygnus spacecraft with the station's robotic arm.

"Our first mission under the [Commercial Resupply Services] contract with NASA was flawlessly executed by our Antares and Cygnus operations team, from the picture-perfect launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility to the rendezvous, capture and berthing at the space station this morning," Orbital President and CEO David Thompson said in a statement. 

Orbital's $1.9 billion cargo delivery deal with NASA calls for the company to launch at least eight resupply missions to the space station by 2016 to ferry a total of 40,000 lbs. (18,143 kg) of supplies to the orbital lab. The company's Cygnus spacecraft are bus-size disposable spacecraft designed to deliver supplies to the station, and then haul away trash and unneeded items for disposable. A Cygnus spacecraft visited the station last September in a debut test flight, but that demonstration mission did not carry a full cargo load.



Orbital Sciences' robotic Cygnus commercial cargo ship


The Cygnus currently at the station, known as Orb-1, is due to depart the orbiting lab on Feb. 18 and be intentionally destroyed on Feb. 19, when it is scheduled to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

Orbital officials named the Orb-1 Cygnus the Spaceship C. Gordon Fullerton in honor of the late NASA astronaut Gordon Fullerton of the same name, who died last year.

"Very pleased the S.S. C. Gordon Fullerton performed so well. Just as its namesake would have expected," Orbital officials wrote in a Twitter statement Sunday. "'Gordo' would be proud!"

NASA currently has contracts with Orbital and the Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX for commercial resupply missions to the station using unmanned spacecraft. SpaceX has a $1.6 billion deal with NASA for 12 cargo missions using its Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon space capsules. Two of those missions have flown so far, with the third slated to launch on Feb. 22.

"This resupply operation is the life of the space station," NASA astronaut Cady Coleman said during docking commentary on Sunday. "It is one thing to get the crew up there, but it is really important to get the supplies up there."


http://news.yahoo.com/private-cargo-ship-delivers-gifts-ants-space-station-145051545.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Orbital's cargo ship arrives at space station
AFP
1 hour ago



This NASA TV handout image shows the Orbital Sciences Corporation's unmanned Cygnus cargo ship (TOP-L) being captured by the Canada arm after arriving at the International Space Station on January 12, 2014



Washington (AFP) - Orbital Sciences Corporation's unmanned Cygnus cargo ship on Sunday arrived at the International Space Station on the company's first regular supply mission to the research outpost.

Cygnus is delivering 2,780 pounds (1,260 kilograms) of supplies to the space station including hardware, food and equipment, which astronauts will use to carry out studies on everything from ant behavior to antibiotic drug resistance.

The capsule officially berthed with the space station at 1305 GMT, nearly two hours after a robotic arm reached out and grabbed the incoming cargo carrier, according to the US space agency NASA's television network.

US astronaut Mike Hopkins and his Japanese colleague Koichi Wakata operated the space lab's 57-foot (17-meter) Canadian-made mechanical arm, known as the Canadarm, which connected with Cygnus at 1108 GMT.

"Basically capturing something that is free-floating in space right next to you going so fast... with so much at stake, that is the tricky part," said astronaut Cady Coleman, who narrated the capture from Earth for NASA TV.

The crew used the robotic arm to guide Cygnus to its berthing port on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony node for the installation process, according to NASA.

The rendezvous -- the term given to the crucial moment when the arm grasps the capsule -- "goes by pretty fast," said Coleman.

"You train and train and you practice and practice, and that's what it comes down to."



The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket lifts off from Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility


The mission is the first official resupply trip for Orbital's cargo ship, coming on the heels of the company's successful demonstration flight and berthing at the ISS in September.

Orbital on Sunday expressed elation over how smoothly the maneuver went.

Its maiden mission under its contract with NASA "was flawlessly executed... from the picture-perfect launch... to the rendezvous, capture and berthing at the space station this morning," company CEO David Thompson said in a statement.

"Our whole team has performed at a very high level for our NASA customer and I am very proud of their extraordinary efforts."

According to NASA, a hatch will be opened later in the day or on Monday to begin unloading the supplies.

The spacecraft will eventually be packed with disposable items. It will remain at the station until mid-February.

After Cygnus detaches, it will burn up on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere and will disintegrate over the Pacific Ocean.

The commercial space company SpaceX is due to send its Dragon capsule to the ISS shortly afterward for another cargo mission.

Both Orbital and SpaceX have contracts with NASA worth more than a billion dollars each to supply the space station over multiple trips, restoring US access to the ISS after the retirement of the space shuttle program in 2011.

California-based SpaceX, owned by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, became the first private company to reach the space station with its Dragon capsule in 2012.

Cygnus's berthing at the ISS marks the fifth mooring of a private vessel at the space station in two years.

NASA has announced that the life of the $100 billion International Space Station will be extended by an additional four years, or until 2024.

The space lab serves a global science collaborative and was launched in 1998. It had been expected to stay in operation until 2020.

Partnering agencies are NASA, the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos, the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.


http://news.yahoo.com/orbital-sciences-launches-first-cargo-mission-space-station-182344099.html

[Unorthodox]

Ants in spaaaaace!!!


Didn't we already launch an ant farm a while back.  One of the last shuttle missions IIRC?  I'm sure that where these newfangled gel based ant farms on the market come from...

[Unorthodox]

Looked it up...never mind, they were on Columbia....