Northrop Grumman cargo ship reaches house Station – Spaceflight Now

Running a day late due to a software program concern, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo ship caught up with the International Space Station early Thursday after which stood by whereas the lab’s robotic arm latched onto a grapple fixture to wrap up a profitable, if prolonged, rendezvous.

The seize got here after Northrop Grumman engineers adjusted the sensitivity of important engine fault detection software program that prematurely triggered shut downs throughout two rendezvous thruster firings Tuesday.

As it turned out, the primary engine was wholesome all alongside and as soon as the software program was adjusted, the spacecraft was in a position to press forward with the rendezvous, pulling up to a degree just under the station so robotic arm operator Jonny Kim, assisted by Zena Cardman, might seize the ship.

“A big congratulations to the NASA and Cygnus teams for a successful Cygnus launch, rendezvous and capture,” Kim radioed mission management. “Adapting and overcoming unforeseen challenges is something we do at NASA, and I’m very proud to be a part of this team.”

Unlike SpaceX’s cargo Dragon and Russian Progress freighters, which perform autonomous dockings at their respective ports, the Cygnus was designed to be captured by the station’s arm and pulled in for berthing.

After locking onto the Cygnus XL at 7:24 a.m. EDT, Kim handed off arm operations to flight controllers on the Johnson Space Center in Houston so the ship might be pulled in for berthing on the Earth-facing port of the central Unity module.

Northrop Grumman names its cargo ships after notable figures within the house neighborhood. The Cygnus XL was named in honor of shuttle pilot William “Willie” McCool, who misplaced his life within the 2003 Columbia catastrophe.

Space station astronaut Mike Fincke, a member of the 1996 astronaut class together with McCool, mentioned he was “a gifted pilot, a devoted crewmate and a man of deep humility, his life continues to inspire us.”

“To see a ship bearing his name safely arrive at the station is a reminder that his courage and kindness are still circling our beautiful planet Earth.”

On board: greater than 5 tons of wanted spare elements, analysis materials and crew provides, together with vacation treats for the station crew.

“The (Cygnus) is packed with consumables, like nitrogen, oxygen, food and toilet parts, and it has a large number of spare parts that are required for systems like, for example, our urine processor,” mentioned Dina Contella, deputy supervisor of the house station program on the Johnson Space Center.

“We’re stocking up on these items since we were short over the past year, and we’d like to have a good reserve for the future.”

That shortfall was brought on, partially, by injury an earlier Cygnus suffered throughout cargo from a sub-contractor in Europe to Cape Canaveral. That automobile continues to be grounded pending evaluation and repairs.

Sunday’s launch of the Cygnus XL marked the maiden flight of an upgraded model of the cargo ship, which is about 5 toes longer than the unique, permitting it to hold about 2,600 kilos of extra cargo.

NASA pays for cargo supply flights utilizing Cygnus and Dragon spacecraft. To date, SpaceX has efficiently carried out 32 Dragon resupply missions whereas Northrop Grumman has executed 21 profitable flights, together with the present mission.

Bill Spetch, operations integration supervisor for the house station, mentioned the resupply flights, “and especially this great capability that Cygnus brings and the amount of cargo that it brings to us, is critical to keep us running smooth and doing the things that we need … to do the research.”