The Cygnus spacecraft, which is carrying 8,300 pounds of scientific probes and a fresh supply of cargo, arrived at the International Space Station on Monday, less than two days after its launch. The supplies also contain materials for experiments on growing plants without soil, NASA said.
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Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft was launched Saturday after an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. At 4.44 a.m., NASA astronaut Raja Chari captured Cygnus with NASA astronaut Kayla Barron as backup.
After capture of Cygnus, mission control in Houston will send ground commands to rotate the station’s arm and install it at the station’s Unity Module Earth-facing port.
This is Northrop Grumman’s 17th commercial re-supply mission to the International Space Station for NASA.
The Cygnus spacecraft is named the SS Pierce Sellers in honor of the late NASA astronaut who spent nearly 35 days on three missions helping build the space station.
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