NASA commercial cargo provider Northrop Grumman is targeting 10:27 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 29, for the launch of its 14th resupply mission to theInternational Space Station. Live coverage of the launch from Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, will air on NASA Television and the agencyswebsite, with prelaunch events Monday, Sept. 28, and Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Loaded with nearly 8,000 pounds of research, crew supplies, and hardware, Northrop Grummans Cygnus cargo spacecraft will launch on the companys Antares rocket from Virginia Spaces Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.
The Cygnus spacecraft, dubbed the SS Kalpana Chawla, will arrive at the space station Saturday, Oct. 3. Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA will grapple Cygnus and Flight Engineer Ivan Vagnerof Roscosmos will act as a backup. After Cygnus capture, mission control in Houston will send ground commands for the stations robotic arm to rotate and install it on the bottom of the stations Unity module. Cygnus is scheduled to remain at the space station until mid-December, when it will depart the station. Following departure, the Saffire-V experiment will be conducted prior to Cygnus deorbit and disposing of several tons of trash during a fiery re-entry into Earths atmosphere approximately two weeks later.
Members of the public can attend the launch virtually, receiving mission updates, and opportunities normally received by on-site guests.
Complete coverage of launch activities is as follows (all times Eastern):
Monday, Sept. 28
- 1:00 p.m. Pre-launch News Conference with the following participants:
- Greg Dorth, manager, International Space Station Program External Integration Office, NASA
- Heidi Parris, assistant program scientist, International Space Station Program Science Office, NASA
- Shannon Fitzpatrick, chief, Wallops Flight Facility Range and Mission Management Office, NASA
- Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager, Tactical Space, Northrop Grumman
- Kurt Eberly, director, Launch Vehicles, Northrop Grumman
Tuesday, Sept. 29
- 10 p.m. Launch coverage begins
Saturday, Oct. 3
- 3:45 a.m. Rendezvous coverage begins
- 5:15 a.m. Capture of Cygnus with the space stations robotic arm
- 7:00 a.m. Cygnus installation operations coverage
