Engineering:Cygnus NG-21

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Short description: Cygnus spacecraft mission to ISS
NG-21
Enhanced Cygnus - Drawing.jpg
Artists' impression of an Extended Cygnus; the spacecraft type to be used in the mission.
Mission typeISS logistics
OperatorNorthrop Grumman
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftS.S.
Spacecraft typeEnhanced Cygnus
Manufacturer
Start of mission
Launch dateLate July 2024 (planned)[1]
RocketFalcon 9, B10xx.x
Launch siteKSC LC-39A or CCSFS SLC-40
ContractorNorthrop Grumman
End of mission
DisposalDeorbited
Decay date2025 (planned)
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Inclination51.66°
Berthing at the International Space Station
Berthing port''Unity nadir
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SpaceX CRS-31 →
 
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NG-22 →

Cygnus NG-21 is the twenty-first planned flight of the Cygnus robotic resupply spacecraft and its eighteenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS). It is planned to launch in late July 2024.[1][2][3][4] It is contracted to Northrop Grumman under the Commercial Resupply Services II (CRS-2) contract with NASA. The capsule is scheduled to be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Orbital ATK (now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems) and NASA jointly developed a new space transportation system to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS). Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, Orbital ATK designed, acquired, built, and assembled the Cygnus, an advanced spacecraft using a Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) provided by industrial partner Thales Alenia Space and a Service Module based on the Orbital GEOStar satellite bus.[5]

NG-21 is the second launch of a Cygnus spacecraft after the exhaustion of the supply of Antares rockets, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, losing both the Russian rocket engine supplier and the Ukrainian booster stage supplier. A Northrop Grumman replacement for Antares will later come about for later missions. The next Cygnus missions will also use Falcon 9, and subsequent mission will use the next-generation Antares 300 series that does not depend on Ukrainian or Russian parts.[6]

History

Cygnus NG-21 is the tenth Cygnus mission under the Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract.

Production and integration of Cygnus spacecraft are performed in Dulles, Virginia. The Cygnus service module is mated with the pressurized cargo module at the launch site, and mission operations are conducted from control centers in Dulles, Virginia and Houston, Texas .[5]

Spacecraft

Main page: Engineering:Cygnus (spacecraft)

This will be the sixteenth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM.[3][7]

Manifest

The Cygnus spacecraft will be loaded with cargo and supplies before its launch.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Clark, Stephen (25 October 2023). "Launch Schedule". Spaceflight Now. https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/. 
  2. ↑ Gebhardt, Chris (1 June 2018). "Orbital ATK looks ahead to CRS-2 Cygnus flights, Antares on the commercial market". NASASpaceflight.com. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/06/orbital-atk-crs2-cygnus-flights-antares-commercial/. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Clark, Stephen (1 October 2020). "Northrop Grumman "optimistic" to receive more NASA cargo mission orders". Spaceflight Now. https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/10/01/northrop-grumman-optimistic-to-receive-more-nasa-cargo-mission-orders/. 
  4. ↑ "Northrop Grumman shifting to Space Coast for future space station missions". 3 August 2023. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/northrop-grumman-shifting-space-coast-201200258.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAF5qj583tcWhHrVeQ9YlVCHq6BOqm00ASOHKsCUW85Hdmlic62jgK7D7dMjBrr_1-yy5IWUXTas6A4QNrSN3OFXyaWT5DbtfT85jSP32zfFS9C9zz-asm3WO6lu2V9DEdNc77FQCnT3Qd0AoHiav1krPYMeFjLxSAJjdG0fn9Q3n. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Cygnus Spacecraft". Northrop Grumman. 6 January 2020. https://www.northropgrumman.com/space/cygnus-spacecraft/. 
  6. ↑ "Northrop Grumman and Firefly to partner on upgraded Antares" (in en-US). 2022-08-08. https://spacenews.com/northrop-grumman-and-firefly-to-partner-on-upgraded-antares/. 
  7. ↑ Leone, Dan (17 August 2015). "NASA Orders Two More ISS Cargo Missions From Orbital ATK". SpaceNews. http://spacenews.com/nasa-orders-two-more-iss-cargo-missions-from-orbital-atk/. 
  8. ↑ "Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply". ISS Program Office. NASA. 1 July 2019. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/northrop-grumman.html.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

External links



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