Cygnus S.S. Sally Ride after arrival at the ISS, with solar panels damaged. | |
| Mission type | ISS logistics |
|---|---|
| Operator | Northrop Grumman |
| Mission duration | 3 months (planned) 2 days, 20 hours and 43 minutes (in progress) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | S.S Sally Ride |
| Spacecraft type | Enhanced Cygnus |
| Manufacturer |
|
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 7 November 2022, 10:32:42 UTC[1][2] |
| Rocket | Antares 230+ |
| Launch site | Wallops Pad 0A |
| Contractor | Northrop Grumman |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Deorbited |
| Decay date | February 2023 (planned) |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Inclination | 51.66° |
| Berthing at the International Space Station | |
| Berthing port | Unity nadir |
| RMS capture | 9 November 2022, 10:20 UTC |
| Berthing date | 9 November 2022, 13:05 UTC |
| Time berthed | 18 hours and 10 minutes (in progress) |
Cygnus NG-18 mission patch | |
NG-18 is the eighteenth 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-2) contract with NASA. The mission successfully launched on 7 November 2022.[1][2] This is the seventh launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.[3][4]
Orbital ATK (now Northrop Grumman Innovation 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]
Cygnus NG-18 is the seventh Cygnus mission under the Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract. Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems confirmed on February 23, 2021 that Thales Alenia Space of Turin, Italy, will fabricate two additional Pressurized Cargo Modules (PCMs) for a pair of forthcoming Commercial Resupply Services-2 missions. Current plans are for the two additional Cygnus spacecraft to be designated NG-18 and NG-19.[6][when?]
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][when?]
|
Main article: Cygnus (spacecraft) |
This is the thirteenth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM.[4][7]
The vehicle was named the S.S. Sally Ride, after the first American woman in space.[8]
NG-18 was originally scheduled to launch on November 6, 2022. However, a fire alarm resulted in an evacuation of Northrop Grumman's control center, and the flight was postponed to the next day.[9]
The mission lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on November 7, 2022. About six hours into the flight, NASA announced that one of the two solar arrays failed to deploy. While Northrop Grumman reported that the spacecraft would still be able to reach the ISS. After assessing the situation, NASA determined a rendezvous was safe.[10] The vehicle reached the ISS on November 9.[11]
The Cygnus spacecraft is loaded with 3,707 kg (8,173 lb) of research, hardware, and crew supplies.[12]
The new experiments arriving at the orbiting laboratory will inspire future scientists and explorers, and provide valuable insight for researchers.
NASA Glenn Research Center studies: [13][14]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the 
