cosmos.wikisort.org - Spacecraft

Cygnus NG-17,[2] previously known as Cygnus OA-17, was the seventeenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its sixteenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. The mission launched on 19 February 2022.[1] It was the sixth launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.[3][4]

Cygnus NG-17

Names	Cygnus OA-17 (2016–2018)
Mission type	ISS resupply
Operator	Northrop Grumman
COSPAR ID	2022-015A
SATCAT no.	51712
Mission duration	130 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	S.S. Piers Sellers
Spacecraft type	Enhanced Cygnus
Manufacturer	Northrop Grumman Thales Alenia Space
Launch mass	.
Start of mission
Launch date	19 February 2022, 17:40:03 UTC[1]
Rocket	Antares 230+
Launch site	Wallops, Pad 0A
Contractor	Northrop Grumman
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited
Decay date	29 June 2022, 06:55 UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Inclination	51.66°
Berthing at International Space Station
Berthing port	Unity nadir
RMS capture	21 February 2022, 09:44 UTC
Berthing date	21 February 2022, 12:02 UTC
Unberthing date	28 June 2022, 07:00 UTC
RMS release	28 June 2022, 11:07 UTC
Time berthed	127 days
Cygnus NG-17 mission patch Commercial Resupply Services ← SpaceX CRS-24 SpaceX CRS-25 →   Cygnus flights ← Cygnus NG-16 Cygnus NG-18 →

Orbital ATK’s space division (now part of Northrop Grumman Space Systems) and NASA jointly developed a new space transportation system to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS). Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, Orbital ATK designed, acquired, built, and assembled these components: Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced spacecraft using a Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) provided by industrial partner Thales Alenia Space and a Service Module based on the Orbital GEOStar satellite bus.[5]

History

Cygnus NG-17 was the sixth Cygnus mission under the Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract.

Production and integration of Cygnus spacecraft are performed in Dulles, Virginia. The Cygnus service module is mated with the pressurized cargo module at the launch site, and mission operations are conducted from control centers in Dulles, Virginia and Houston, Texas.[5]

Spacecraft

This was the twelfth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM.[4][6] Northrop Grumman named this spacecraft after Piers Sellers, in celebration of his role in assembling the International Space Station.[2]

Manifest

Cygnus spacecraft is loaded with 3,651 kg (8,049 lb) of research, hardware, and crew supplies.[7][8]

• Crew supplies: 1,352 kg (2,981 lb)
• Science investigations: 896 kg (1,975 lb)
• Spacewalk equipment: 60 kg (130 lb)
• Vehicle hardware: 1,308 kg (2,884 lb)
• Computer resources: 35 kg (77 lb)

ISS reboost

Aside from the orbital delivery, Cygnus performed the program's first operational reboost of the ISS. The space station's orbit needs to be changed from time to time as it naturally falls back in Earth's atmosphere.[9] The ISS will change its attitude by about 90 degrees before executing the Cygnus reboost on 18 June 2022.[10][11]

On 20 June 2022 at 15:20 UTC, Cygnus NG-17 gimbal engine was scheduled to fire for 5 minutes and 1 second but the firing was aborted after 5 seconds.[12]

On Saturday, June 25, 2022 at 17:42 UTC, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus completed its first limited reboost of the International Space Station. Cygnus’ gimbaled delta velocity engine was used to adjust the space station’s orbit through a reboost of the altitude of the space station. The maneuver lasted 5 minutes, 1 second and raised the station’s altitude 1/10 of a mile at apogee and 5/10 of a mile at perigee.[13]

Research

The new experiments that have arrived at the orbiting laboratory will inspire future scientists and explorers, and provide valuable insight for researchers.

NASA Glenn Research Center studies:[14]

• TBD

See also

• Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station

References

External links

• Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply, NASA page

---