Northrop’s Cygnus Spacecraft Arrives at ISS for 11th Cargo Resupply Mission

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus docked at the International Space Station on Friday carrying around 7.6K pounds of supplies and experiments under the company’s 11th cargo delivery mission to the laboratory.

Nicknamed S.S. Roger Chaffee, the spacecraft conducted rendezvous maneuvers before berthing to the station’s Unity connecting module via a robotic arm and is now slated for initial ingress and cargo unloading operations, Northrop said Friday.

Cygnus launched aboard Northrop's Antares rocket on Wednesday from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia and will remain docked at the ISS for around three months before deploying cube satellites via the Slingshot platform for two undisclosed private sector clients.

The company noted Cygnus will re-enter Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean once the secondary mission is completed.

Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager of Northrop's space systems segment, said the spacecraft honors people like the late Apollo 1 astronaut Roger Chaffee who “took great risks to advance our nation’s space program.”