Cygnus NG-17 explained

NG-17, previously known as OA-17, was the seventeenth 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) contract with NASA. The mission launched on 19 February 2022 at 17:40:03UTC.^[1] It was the sixth launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.

Orbital ATK’s space division (now part of Northrop Grumman Space 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.

History

NG-17 was the sixth Cygnus mission under the Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract.

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.

Spacecraft

See main article: Cygnus (spacecraft).

This was the twelfth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM. Northrop Grumman named this spacecraft after Piers Sellers, in celebration of his role in assembling the International Space Station.

Manifest

Cygnus spacecraft is loaded with of research, hardware, and crew supplies.

• Crew supplies:
• Science investigations:
• Spacewalk equipment:
• Vehicle hardware:
• Computer resources:

ISS reboost

Aside from the orbital delivery, Cygnus performed the program's first operational reboost of the ISS. The space station's orbit needs to be changed from time to time as it naturally falls back in Earth's atmosphere.^[2] The ISS will change its attitude by about 90 degrees before executing the Cygnus reboost on 18 June 2022.^{[3] [4]}

On 20 June 2022 at 15:20UTC, Cygnus NG-17 gimbal engine was scheduled to fire for 5 minutes and 1 second but the firing was aborted after 5 seconds.^[5]

On Saturday, June 25, 2022 at 17:42UTC, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus completed its first limited reboost of the International Space Station. Cygnus’ gimbaled delta velocity engine was used to adjust the space station’s orbit through a reboost of the altitude of the space station. The maneuver lasted 5 minutes, 1 second and raised the station’s altitude 1/10 of a mile at apogee and 5/10 of a mile at perigee.^[6]

See also

• Uncrewed spaceflights to the International Space Station

External links

• Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply, NASA page
• Web site: ISS Research Program. Glenn Research Center. NASA. 1 January 2020. 27 December 2020.

Notes and References

1. NASA Invites Media to Northrop Grumman's February Launch from Virginia . . 12 January 2022 . 12 January 2022.
2. Web site: Northrop Grumman rocket launches Cygnus cargo ship on 2-day trip to space station. Elizabeth Howell. 19 February 2022. Space.com.
3. 1496613836161441796. NASA. @RaffaeleDiPalma Yes, the @Space_Station will change its attitude by about 90 degrees before executing a Cygnus reboost.. 23 February 2022.
4. Web site: Schedule of ISS flight events (part 2) . 2022-06-16 . forum.nasaspaceflight.com.
5. Web site: Cyguns Reboost Aborted, Next Steps Being Planned . 20 June 2022 .
6. Web site: Garcia . Mark . Cygnus Cargo Craft Fires Engine for Limited Station Reboost . 2022-06-25 . blogs.nasa.gov . 25 June 2022 . en-US.