OA-4, previously known as Orbital-4, was the fourth successful flight of the Orbital ATK uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its third flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract with NASA.[8][9] With the Antares launch vehicle undergoing a redesign following its failure during the Orb-3 launch, OA-4 was launched by an Atlas V launch vehicle. Following three launch delays due to inclement weather beginning on 3 December 2015, OA-4 was launched at 21:44:57 UTC on 6 December 2015. With a liftoff weight of 7,492 kg (16,517 lb), OA-4 became the heaviest payload ever launched on an Atlas V.[10] The spacecraft rendezvoused with and was berthed to the ISS on 9 December 2015.[6] It was released on 19 February 2016 after 72 days at the International Space Station. Deorbit occurred on 20 February 2016 at approximately 16:00 UTC.[4]
![]() An Atlas V 401 launches the S.S. Deke Slayton II. | |
Names | Orbital-4 (2008–2015) |
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Mission type | ISS Resupply [1] |
Operator | Orbital ATK |
COSPAR ID | 2015-072A ![]() |
SATCAT no. | 41101 |
Mission duration | 75 days, 18 hours, 15 minutes |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | S.S. Deke Slayton II |
Spacecraft type | Enhanced Cygnus[2] |
Manufacturer |
|
Launch mass | 7,492 kg (16,517 lb)[3] |
Payload mass | 3,513 kg (7,745 lb) |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 6 December 2015, 21:44:57 UTC |
Rocket | Atlas V 401 (AV-061) |
Launch site | Cape Canaveral SLC-41 |
Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
End of mission | |
Disposal | Deorbited |
Decay date | 20 February 2016, 16:00 UTC[4] |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit[5] |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Inclination | 51.64° |
Berthing at the International Space Station | |
Berthing port | Unity nadir |
RMS capture | 9 December 2015, 11:19 UTC [6] |
Berthing date | 9 December 2015, 14:26 UTC |
Unberthing date | 19 February 2016, 10:38 UTC [7] |
RMS release | 19 February 2016, 12:26 UTC |
Time berthed | 71 days, 20 hours, 12 minutes |
![]() NASA insignia Commercial Resupply Services Cygnus flights |
OA-4 was the fourth of eight flights by Orbital ATK under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract with NASA and the inaugural flight of the larger Enhanced Cygnus PCM. The mission was originally scheduled for 1 April 2015.[11] The Atlas V launch vehicle launched in the 401 vehicle configuration with a four-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.[8]
In an Orbital ATK tradition, this Cygnus spacecraft was named Deke Slayton II after Deke Slayton, one of NASA's original Mercury Seven astronauts and Director of Flight Operations, who died in 1993. This spacecraft reuses the name Deke Slayton, originally applied to the Orb-3 spacecraft which was lost in an Antares rocket explosion in October 2014.[12]
The mission was the first flight of the enhanced variant of Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft, capable of delivering more than 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) of essential crew supplies, equipment and scientific experiments to the International Space Station (ISS).
Total cargo: 3,349 kilograms (7,383 lb)[6][13]
Total cargo with packing material: 3,513 kg (7,745 lb)
Media related to Cygnus 5 at Wikimedia Commons
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← 2014 · Orbital launches in 2015 · 2016 → | |
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January | |
February | |
March | ABS-3A · Eutelsat 115 West B – WADIS-2 – MMS – Ekspress AM7 – USA-260 / GPS IIF-9 – KOMPSat-3A – IGS-Optical 5 – Soyuz TMA-16M – Galileo FOC-3, FOC-4 – IRNSS-1D – BeiDou I1-S – Gonets-M 11, 12, 13 · Kosmos 2504 |
April | SpaceX CRS-6 (Arkyd-3R · AggieSat 4 · Bevo 2 · Flock-1e × 14) – Thor 7 · SICRAL-2 – TürkmenÄlem 52°E / MonacoSAT – Progress M-27M |
May | Mexsat-1 – USA-261 / X-37 OTV-4 · LightSail-1 · USS Langley · BRICSat-P · ParkinsonSat · GEARRS-2 · AeroCube 8A, 8B · OptiCube 1, 2, 3 – DirecTV-15 · SKY México-1 |
June | Kosmos 2505 / Kobalt-M – Sentinel-2A – Kosmos 2506 / Persona No.3 – Gaofen 8 – SpaceX CRS-7 (Flock-1f × 8) |
July | Progress M-28M – UK-DMC 3 × 3 · CBNT-1 · DeOrbitSail – USA-262 / GPS IIF-10 – Star One C4 · MSG-4 – Soyuz TMA-17M – USA-263 / WGS-7 – BeiDou M1-S, M2-S |
August | HTV-5 / Kounotori 5 (SERPENS · S-CUBE · Flock-2b × 14 · AAUSAT 5 · GOMX 3) – Eutelsat 8 West B · Intelsat 34 – Yaogan 27 – GSAT-6 / INSAT-4E – Inmarsat 5-F3 |
September | Soyuz TMA-18M – MUOS-4 – Galileo FOC-5, FOC-6 – TJSSW-1 – Gaofen 9 – Ekspress AM8 – XY-2 · Tiantuo-3 · ZDPS 2A, 2B · Xiwang-2 × 6 · DCBB · LilacSat-2 · NUDT-Phone-Sat · Xingchen × 4 · NS-2 · Zijing × 2 – Kosmos 2507, 2508, 2509 / Strela-3M × 3 – Pujian-1 · Tianwang 1A, 1B, 1C – Astrosat · LAPAN-A2 · ExactView 9 · Lemur-2 × 4 – BeiDou I2-S – NBN-Co 1A · ARSAT-2 |
October | Progress M-29M – Mexsat-2 – Jilin-1 · Lingqiao A · Lingqiao B · LQSAT – USA-264 / NOSS Intruder × 2 / NROL-55 · AeroCube-5c, 7 · SNaP-3 × 3 · PropCube × 2 · SINOD-D × 2 · ARC-1 · BisonSat · AMSAT Fox-1 · LMRST-Sat – APStar-9 – Türksat 4B – Tianhui 1C – USA-265 / GPS IIF-11 |
November | Chinasat 2C – HiakaSat · EDSN × 8 · PrintSat · Argus · STACEM · Supernova-Beta – Yaogan 28 – Arabsat 6B · GSAT-15 – Kosmos 2510 / EKS-1 / Tundra-11L – LaoSat-1 – Telstar 12V – Yaogan 29 |
December | LISA Pathfinder – Kosmos 2511 / Kanopus-ST · Kosmos 2512 / KYuA-1 – Cygnus CRS OA-4 (Flock-2e × 12 · CADRE · MinXSS 1 · Nodes × 2 · STMSat 1 · SIMPL) – ChinaSat 1C – Elektro-L No.2 – Kosmos 2513 / Garpun-12L – Soyuz TMA-19M – TeLEOS-1 · VELOX-C1 · Kent Ridge 1 · VELOX 2 · Galassia · Athenoxat-1 – DAMPE – Galileo FOC-8, FOC-9 – Progress MS-01 – Orbcomm-2 × 11 – Ekspress-AMU1 – Gaofen 4 |
Launches are separated by dashes ( – ), payloads by dots ( · ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Cubesats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets). |