There’s room for parking, so NASA is moving forward with a resupply run to the International Space Station.
A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft is set to launch atop an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia’s Eastern Shore at 6:01 p.m. Tuesday. Video of the launch can be seen on NASA TV.
It’s the 16th contracted cargo mission for the Cygnus spacecraft, this one named after astronaut Ellison Onizuka, the first Asian American to fly in space as a member of STS 51-C in 1985 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. Onizuka died on his next mission though along with six crewmates during the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy in 1986.
It’s bringing up 8,200 pounds of science, research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware, the largest resupply mission for Northrop Grumman to date, and set to hook up with the ISS on Aug. 12.
The S.S. Ellison Onizuka will stay attached to the ISS for about three months before departing with up to 8,221 pounds of disposal cargo. Cygnus spacecraft burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.
The mission comes after Boeing Starliner was not able to launch to the ISS in an attempt last week. The uncrewed test flight of Starliner was called off after an issue with valves stuck in the wrong position ahead of liftoff. The commercial crew spacecraft was attempting a redo of its December 2019 flight that was not able to rendezvous with the ISS. Boeing is trying to join SpaceX as one of two providers in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to ferry astronauts to and from the space station.
The Starliner atop an Atlas V rocket was rolled back from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station last week for investigation of the malfunction at Space Launch Complex-41′s Vertical Integration Facility.
Over the weekend Boeing was able to restore functionality on some of the 13 propulsion system valves that did not open as designed during the prelaunch system checks.
Boeing said there was no sign of damage or external corrosion. Six of the 13 valves are still not operating as designed as of Monday.
“Boeing is working a systematic plan to open the affected valves, demonstrate repeatable system performance, and verify the root cause of the issue before returning Starliner to the launch pad for its Orbital Flight Test-2 mission,” reads a statement on the Boeing Starliner website.
NASA and Boeing will need to sign off on the spacecraft’s readiness before a new launch opportunity.
