Orbital ATK Taps ULA for ISS Cargo Launch Mission; Tory Bruno, David Thompson Comment

Orbital ATK has selected United Launch Alliance to send NASA’s second cargo mission to the International Space Station.

ULA will launch the first Cygnus cargo in early December under the commercial resupply services program, ULA said Wednesday.

Tory Bruno, ULA president and CEO, said the Cygnus spacecraft will “carry the maximum cargo load to service the space station – 3,500 kg of pressurized cargo.”

ULA will send the second cargo mission in 2016 aboard an Atlas V 401 vehicle from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

“We are committed to meeting all CRS mission requirements, and we are prepared to continue to supply the space station,” said David Thompson, president and CEO of Orbital ATK.