Jane Edwards
Northrop Grumman plans to launch its Cygnus spacecraft Wednesday on a mission to deliver approximately 7.6K pounds of scientific equipment and supplies to the International Space Station.
The spacecraft, nicknamed S.S. Roger Chaffee, will lift off aboard an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia as part of the company’s 11th and final cargo delivery effort under the Commercial Resupply Services-1 contract, Northrop said Tuesday.
The rocket’s second stage will carry secondary payloads – a NASA-backed 3U CubeSat called Student Aerothermal Spectrometer Satellite of Illinois and Indiana CubeSat and 60 ThinSats.
The NG-11 mission will allow Northrop to demonstrate cargo late load approach and a long duration post-station departure mission for the spacecraft.
Cygnus is scheduled to arrive at the orbiting laboratory Friday, April 19, and will stay there for approximately two months before it leaves for Earth with about 7.7K pounds of disposable cargo.
Northrop performed the 10th ISS cargo delivery mission in November and is scheduled to begin launches under the CRS-2 contract this fall.
