The Antares launch vehicle at NASA's Wallops launch site. Archive photo
Moscow. 11th August. INTERFAX.RU – Northrop Grumman's American cargo spacecraft Cygnus went to the International Space Station (ISS) to deliver payload and food, the launch is broadcast by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The launch took place at 01:01 Moscow time from the NASA Wallops Cosmodrome in Virginia, USA.
Cygnus, supplied with food and equipment with a total mass of 3.7 kg, sailed to the ISS using a two-stage Antares 230+ launch vehicle under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) cargo delivery program to the ISS. Cygnus is expected to dock with the Unity module on the ISS on August 12 for three months.
The spacecraft will be seized for further docking by the Canadarm-2 manipulator, which will be controlled by Megan MacArthur (NASA) and Tom Pesce (European Space Agency, ESA).
Northrop Grumman has been conducting payload and garbage removal operations from the ISS using Cygnus since 2014. This launch was the 16th for the cargo ship. The first successful launch of Cygnus took place on September 18, 2013.
