Editor’s note: An update to the
present story, NASA TV Coverage Set for Feb. 14 Cygnus Launch to space platform
, was published on Feb. 13, 2020.
Northrop Grumman’s next NASA resupply
services mission to the International space platform is targeted for launch at
3:43 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 14. Live coverage of the launch and briefings will
begin at 3:15 p.m., on NASA Television and therefore the agency’s website.
The company’s 13th commercial
resupply services mission using its Cygnus cargo spacecraft will launch on its
Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops
Flight Facility in Virginia.
On Feb. 9, Northrop Grumman scrubbed
its Antares launch after off-nominal readings from a ground support sensor. The
Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft remain healthy.
Loaded with approximately 7,500
pounds of research, crew supplies, and hardware, the Cygnus spacecraft, dubbed
the SS Robert H. Lawrence, will reach the space platform Sunday, Feb. 16 at
about 4 a.m. NASA aircrewman Andrew Morgan will grapple Cygnus and NASA
astronaut Jessica Meir are going to be acting as a backup. After capture, the
spacecraft are going to be installed on the Unity module’s Earth-facing port.
NASA TV coverage of the spacecraft’s
arrival will begin at 2:30 a.m., and installation coverage will begin at 6 a.m.
The Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to
stay at the space platform until May 11, when it'll depart the orbiting
laboratory. The Saffire-IV experiment are going to be conducted within Cygnus
after it departs the station before deorbit. During its deorbit, it also will
eliminate several plenty of trash during a fiery reentry into Earth’s atmosphere
May 25.
Media registration for the launch and
associated activities is closed. The prelaunch press conference and What’s on
Board briefing happened on Feb 8 and may be viewed online:
Northrop Grumman's CRS-13 Mission:
Prelaunch press conference
Northrop Grumman's CRS-13 Mission:
What's on Board
Cargo resupply from U.S. companies
ensures a national capability to deliver critical science research to the space
platform , significantly increasing NASA's ability to conduct new
investigations at the sole laboratory in space.
