ISS crew bids farewell to SS Alan Bean Cygnus spacecraft
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The NG-12 Cygnus moments before its capture by the International Space Station’s Expedition 61 crew in November 2019. Credit: NASA
After nearly three months at the International Space Station, the NG-12 Cygnus spacecraft was unberthed, released and commanded to depart the vicinity of the outpost to begin its post-ISS mission.
The spacecraft, named SS Alan Bean after the late Apollo 12 moonwalker, was detached from the Earth-facing port of the Unity module during the morning of Jan. 31, 2020. Several hours later, at about 14:36 UTC, Cygnus was released and slowly drifted away.
Teams on the ground remotely commanded the 17.6-meter-long Canadarm2 remote manipulator system to perform all of the major tasks from unbolting the vehicle from the berthing port to maneuvering it into position for release to the actual release. However, NASA astronauts Drew Morgan and Jessica Meir were on standby to provide backup support had it been needed.
NG-12 Cygnus launched to the ISS on Nov. 2, 2019, and arrived at the outpost several days later with 3,700 kilograms of supplies, hardware and experiments for the six-person Expedition 61 crew. According to NASA, the science investigations sent ranged from research into human control of robotics from orbit to the recycling of 3D printing fibers.
During its stay at the outpost, the vehicle’s contents were unloaded before being reloaded with various pieces of unneeded equipment as well as trash that will eventually burn up along with the Cygnus spacecraft once it is commanded to de-orbit and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, which is currently scheduled for Feb. 29.
Before that, however, the spacecraft will deploy various CubSats that are packed inside a small satellite deployer on the vehicle’s hatch. This SlingShot deployer is expected to begin its deployments as early as several hours after departure from the International Space Station.
The next Cygnus spacecraft, NG-13, is scheduled for launch as early as Feb. 9, 2020, from Wallops Island, Virginia. The vehicle is expected to take to the skies at 22:39 UTC atop a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket. Assuming everything goes according to the current schedule, the cargo freighter should arrive at the ISS on Feb. 11.
