NASA, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX are targeting early August to launch the Cygnus spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The launch is the 21st Northrop Grumman commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for the agency and will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Following launch, the space station’s Canadarm2 will grapple Cygnus, and the spacecraft will attach to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port for cargo unloading.
Each resupply mission to the station delivers scientific investigations in the areas of biology and biotechnology, Earth and space science, physical sciences, and technology development and demonstrations. Cargo resupply from US companies ensures a national capability to deliver scientific research to the space station, significantly increasing NASA’s ability to conduct new investigations in space.
In addition to food, supplies, and equipment for the crew, Cygnus will deliver research, including supplies for a new STEMonstration and several test articles to observe water flow in microgravity. Other investigations aboard include vascularized liver tissue and a bioreactor to demonstrate the production of blood and immune stem cells. Researchers will learn more about biomanufacturing in microgravity to create higher-quality treatments for people.
NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative also is sending two CubeSats to deploy from the orbiting laboratory, CySat-1 from Iowa State University and DORA from Arizona State University, making up ELaNa 52 (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites).
