Satnews Daily
November 12th, 2018

Turn On and Tune In to NASA TV for Cygnus Launch to International Space Station



Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket for its 10th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station is seen on the left Nov. 4, 2018, in the Horizontal Integration Facility at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore. The CRS-10 Cygnus spacecraft is shown in the middle of the facility, and the Antares CRS-11 rocket scheduled to launch in spring 2019 is on the right. Credits: NASA/Patrick Black

A combined effort will result in NASA and their commercial partner, Northrop Grumman, launching the Antares rocket, carrying the Cygnus cargo spacecraft, named the SS John Young,website.

Loaded with 7,500 pounds of research, crew supplies and hardware, this tenth commercial resupply mission for Northrop Grumman will launch from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

About 70 minutes after launch, an automated command will initiate deployment of the spacecraft’s solar arrays. Full deployment will take approximately 30 minutes.

The Cygnus spacecraft, the SS John Young, will arrive at the space station Sunday, November 18. At about 4:35 a.m., Expedition 57 Flight Engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA will grapple the spacecraft using the station’s robotic arm.

She will be backed up by Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency), who will monitor Cygnus systems during its approach. After capture, ground controllers will command the robotic arm to rotate and install Cygnus on the bottom of the station’s Unity module.

The Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the space station until February 12, 2019, when it will depart, taking with it several tons of trash, and deploy several CubeSats before its fiery reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

Learn more about the Northrop Grumman CRS-10 mission by going to the mission home page at: