Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus Spacecraft Successfully Concludes Mission to the International Space Station

Company’s 10th cargo supply mission featured expanded commercial capabilities for Cygnus spacecraft

Dulles, Va. – Feb. 25, 2019 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) announced that the company successfully completed its 10th cargo supply mission to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract.

From Feb. 8, 2019 when Northrop Grumman’s “S.S. John Young” Cygnus spacecraft left the International Space Station after delivering approximately 7,400 pounds of cargo to astronauts on board. The spacecraft successfully completed its tenth cargo supply mission to the International Space Station on Feb. 25. (Credit: NASA)

During the mission, the “S.S. John Young” Cygnus met the needs of multiple customers throughout this flight to the International Space Station. The spacecraft removed more than 5,500 pounds (2,500 kilograms) of disposal cargo from the space station.

After departure, the extended mission included the deployment of three CubeSats via the NanoRacks External Cygnus Deployer at two different altitudes and two CubeSats from the Slingshot CubeSat Deployer System. Slingshot, a new commercial customer for Cygnus, is a flexible platform that can fly hosted payloads and CubeSats. The spacecraft also operated a commercial powered payload for another new customer, UbiquitiLink, Inc. These innovative uses of Cygnus beyond the primary mission demonstrate expanded commercial opportunities enabled by partnerships built through the space station.  

“It was a flawless mission for Cygnus that further demonstrated its ability to operate as an in-orbit science platform and launch pad for deployment of commercial CubeSats on extended missions,” said Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager, space systems, Northrop Grumman. “Now, we turn our attention to the next launch this spring where Cygnus will fly on an extended duration mission to further demonstrate its abilities as in-orbit test platform. These capabilities will showcase Cygnus as an evolving space vehicle that can build on the positive impact of the space station to grow new commercial partnerships.”

The mission officially concluded on Feb. 25 at 4:05 a.m. EST when Cygnus performed a safe, destructive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand. The mission began Nov. 17, 2018, when Cygnus launched aboard a Northrop Grumman Antares™ rocket from NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Upon arrival at the orbiting laboratory, Cygnus delivered approximately 7,400 pounds (3,350 kilograms) of cargo, supplies and scientific experiments to the astronauts. It remained docked for 81 days at the orbiting laboratory before departing the space station on Feb. 8.

The next Cygnus launch, known as the NG-11 mission, is currently scheduled in mid-April. This will be the final mission under Northrop Grumman’s CRS-1 contract with NASA before starting the CRS-2 contract missions in the fall of 2019.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus Spacecraft Begins Secondary Mission in Space

“S.S. J.R. Thompson” departs International Space Station and successfully completes international space station reboost

DULLES, Va. – July 15, 2018 –Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) announced that its Cygnus™ spacecraft, following a highly successful stay at the International Space Station, has departed from the station to begin the next phase of its mission. While docked with the station, Cygnus performed a reboost experiment for the International Space Station demonstrating the spacecraft’s capability to raise the orbiting laboratory’s orbit. The “S.S. J.R. Thompson” is now set to deploy six CubeSats in orbit before reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere. This mission marks the fifth time that Cygnus has been used for NanoRacks CubeSat deployments during its secondary payload mission phase.

From May 24, 2018 when the CRS-9 “S.S. J.R. Thompson” Cygnus arrived at the International Space Station and delivered approximately 7,400 pounds of cargo to astronauts on board. The spacecraft successfully departed from the station on July 15. 

Cygnus departed from the International Space Station at 8:37 a.m. ET. Five days before departure, the space station reoriented itself and Cygnus fired its thrusters for the International Space Station reboost demonstration, making Cygnus the first American spacecraft to reboost the station since the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet seven years ago. The spacecraft spent 52 days at the station before leaving with more than 6,600 pounds (over 3,000 kilograms) of disposable cargo, a new record for Cygnus.

“This mission once again demonstrates the expanded capabilities for Cygnus and paves the way for future mission objectives,” said Frank Culbertson, president, space systems group, Northrop Grumman. “Cygnus performed extremely well during the International Space Station orbit raising experiment, and now the next phase of our extended orbital mission is ready to begin with the deployment of six CubeSats.”

The mission began May 21 when Cygnus launched aboard a Northrop Grumman Antares™ rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Upon arrival at the orbiting laboratory, Cygnus delivered approximately 7,400 pounds (3,350 kilograms) of cargo and science experiments to the astronauts, marking the company’s ninth operational mission to the International Space Station.

Following unberthing, the “S.S. J.R. Thompson” will raise its orbit above the International Space Station and use a NanoRacks CubeSat deployer to release six CubeSats into orbit. Four of the CubeSats will join Spire Global’s commercial weather satellite constellation for global ship and weather tracking. The NanoRacks manifest also includes the AeroCube 12A and 12B satellites. These two CubeSats come from the Aerospace Corporation and test new star tracker imagers and high-efficiency solar panels.

The mission is expected to end July 30 when Cygnus will execute a safe, destructive reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. Stay informed with real-time updates on the science experiments aboard Cygnus through Northrop Grumman’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/northropgrumman.