Northrop Grumman’s 1st Cygnus XL spacecraft launches on cargo run to the area station – Spaceflight Now

Northrop Grumman’s first Cygnus XL automobile was jettisoned on its technique to the International Space Station following a pre-sunset launch from Cape Canaveral Sunday night.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket thundered off the pad at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at 6:11 a.m. EDT (2211). About 8 minutes after taking off, the booster shook the Space Coast with a sonic increase because it touched down at Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

This was simply the fourth flight for this booster with the tail quantity B1094. It beforehand launched a batch of Starlink satellites together with two astronaut missions to the ISS: Axiom Mission 4 and NASA’s Crew-11.

This was one of many closing landings at this website as SpaceX builds a brand new touchdown pad adjoining to its launch pad at SLC-40. The firm expects this new website to be operational by early 2026.

More than 14 minutes into the flight, the Cygnus XL spacecraft was launched from the Falcon 9 rocket’s higher stage and it started its greater than two-day journey to the area station. NASA confirmed that the 2, round UltraFlex photo voltaic arrays efficiently deployed about an hour and a half after launch.

The cargo automobile is scheduled to be berthed to the ISS by NASA astronaut Jonny Kim on Wednesday, Sept. 17. The Cygnus XL is anticipated to be captured by the robotic arm on the ISS round 6:35 a.m. EDT (1035 UTC) and berthing will start round 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC).

“Our ISS team has worked hand-in-hand with Northrop Grumman to assess how their spacecraft changes affect ISS in our operations,” mentioned Dina Contella, the deputy manger for NASA’s ISS Program, throughout a prelaunch briefing. “For example, on the ISS side, we had to consider thermal and life support impacts from having a larger vehicle berth to the ISS and we had to assess impacts to the Canadian robotic arm operations.”

The Cygnus XL has about 33 % higher quantity for cargo as in comparison with the predecessor Cygnus automobile. Ryan Tinter, vp of Civil Space Systems at Northrop Grumman, mentioned this new spacecraft is in regards to the dimension of two Apollo command modules put collectively.

The mission, referred to as NG-23, is the twenty second flight for a Cygnus spacecraft as a part of the Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract managed by Northrop Grumman.

“To date, we’ve delivered over 71,000 kg of supplies and science and beyond to the space station,” Tinter mentioned. “Now, as a commercial contractor as well, we’re always partnered with NASA and our customers to understand what new capabilities are needed within what we’re offering.”

Keeping with custom, Northrop Grumman named the spacecraft after an astronaut who left and impactful legacy. This automobile was dubbed the S.S. William “Willie” C. McCool, in honor of the pilot Space Shuttle Columbia of the ill-fated STS-107 mission.

This Cygnus XL spacecraft launched with greater than 11,000 kilos (4,990 kg) of science and provides onboard. Once hooked up to the ISS, it’s scheduled to stay on orbit till the late-spring timeframe.

NASA is planning to un-berth the automobile quickly in November to clear a path for the arrival of a crewed Soyuz spacecraft on the MS-28 mission. Contella mentioned if groups decide that they’re unable to re-berth Cygnus, will probably be filled with trash and launched in November.

“(Japan’s) HTV-X is berthed during this time and it will also provide significant trash removal,” Contella mentioned. “So, un-berthing Cygnus earlier would not be a major problem.”

New science onboard

Among the 1000’s of kilos of cargo onboard the Cygnus XL spacecraft are {hardware} and provides that can assist greater than 50 differs scientific research and analysis amenities, in accordance with Dr. Liz Warren, affiliate chief scientist for NASA’s ISS Program Research Office.

One of these is a observe up experiment taking a look at the right way to handle a zero boil off scenario for propellant storage tanks in low Earth orbit. It’s referred to as the Zero Boil-Off Tank Noncondensables (ZBOT-NC) and it’s managed by Case Western Reserve University and NASA Glenn Research University.

“Data from this investigation will be used to validate a state of the art, two-phase computational fluid dynamics model for long-duration storage of cryogenic fluids in space, which in turn, can be used to inform engineering design currently,” Warren mentioned.

Dr. Mohammad Kassemi, the principal investigator from Case Western Reserve University, mentioned this work can be utilized by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate to assist each Blue Origin and SpaceX with their plans for on-orbit propellant transfers. That’s a key a part of their proposals for returning people to the Moon by means of the Human Landing System piece of the Artemis program.

“We are validating these models across gravity levels, across fluid types and across spatial dimensions, you know, from a small tank to a large tank, Kassemi said. “What allows us to do that is the model, but the key for the model is to be validated and the microgravity data that the ISS allows us to acquire is very valuable, especially when we talk with the U.S. industry, with aerospace companies.”

Bristol Myers Squibb may even be conducting a crystal development experiment utilizing Redwire Space’s Pharmaceutical In-space Laboratory. It’s referred to as Pharmaceutical In-space Laboratory 11 (ADSEP-PIL-11).

“[It] continues ongoing work growing crystals of pharmaceuticals on the ISS to see whether microgravity alters their structure,” Warren mentioned. “In this section of the work, researchers are exploring merchandise with potential purposes in cardiovascular, immunologic, most cancers and neurodegenerative illnesses.

“On Earth, mixed-crystal products experience slow crystal formation, poor crystal shape, deformation. Researchers here expect that microgravity conditions will enable larger, more uniform crystals, which as been seen in many other crystallization experiments on the ISS.”

Warren mentioned researchers are hoping to carry a few of these crystals again to Earth to make bigger batches of them.



Future of Cygnus

The launch of the NG-23 mission got here months sooner than was initially scheduled. The Cygnus spacecraft for the NG-22 mission was broken throughout transport to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and it was deemed unable to fly throughout its authentic slot earlier in 2025.

NASA and its companions on the ISS agreed to shuttle the launch schedule and transfer up the SpX-32, SpX-33 and NG-23 missions to compensate for the problems.

“The exact details on the NG-22 configuration, we’re still working through that, but NG-22 will fly,’ Tinter said. “The NG-22 mission will be manifested and again, we’re working with NASA to determine, as we complete the path forward there, exactly what the timing will be.”

Because of the schedule shuffle, the flight of NG-23 was the final of three introduced missions that featured a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft. However, previous to launch, Tinter mentioned NG-24 would additionally fly on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2026.

“I’d have to go back and see exactly when, but we are all set and have been for a little while now to make sure that we were able to launch on time for NASA here through the Falcon 9,” Tinter mentioned when requested in regards to the timing of this expanded contract throughout a prelaunch briefing.

Northrop Grumman is engaged on a brand new medium-class launch automobile referred to as the Antares 330 in partnership with Firefly Aerospace. The Antares 230+ was retired in August 2023 because of its use of Russian-built RD-181 engines. The U.S. Congress mandated an finish to a reliance on Russian rocket engines because of Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea.

“We’re making great progress on the Antares 330 and that’s getting queued up to be used at some point and ready to go in 2026,” Tinter mentioned.