Cygnus Orb-2 Explained

Orbital-2

Names List:

CRS Orb-2

Mission Type:

ISS resupply

Operator:

Orbital Sciences Corporation

Spacecraft:

S.S. Janice Voss

Spacecraft Type:

Standard Cygnus^[1]

Launch Date:

UTC (12:52:14pmEDT)^[2]

Launch Rocket:

Antares 120

Launch Site:

MARS, Pad 0A

Disposal Type:

Deorbited

Decay Date:

UTC

Orbit Reference:

Geocentric orbit^[3]

Orbit Regime:

Low Earth orbit

Orbit Inclination:

51.64°

Apsis:

gee

Docking:

Docking Type:	berth
Capture Date:	16 July 2014, 10:36UTC
Docking Date:	16 July 2014, 12:53UTC
Undocking Date:	15 August 2014, 09:14UTC
Release Date:	15 August 2014, 10:40UTC

Insignia:

Orbital Sciences CRS Flight 2 Patch.png

Insignia Caption:

NASA insignia

Programme:

Commercial Resupply Services

Previous Mission:

SpaceX CRS-3

Next Mission:

SpaceX CRS-4

Programme2:

Cygnus flights

Previous Mission2:

Orbital-1

Next Mission2:

Orbital-3

Orbital-2,^[4] ^[5] also known as Orb-2, was the third flight of the Orbital Sciences' uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus, its third flight to the International Space Station, and the fourth launch of the company's Antares launch vehicle. The mission launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on 13 July 2014 at 16:52:14 UTC.

Spacecraft

See main article: Cygnus (spacecraft).

This was the second of eight scheduled flights by Orbital Sciences under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract with NASA. It was the last planned usage of the enhanced Castor 30B second stage for this CRS Orb-x series.

In an Orbital Sciences tradition, the Cygnus spacecraft was named the S.S. Janice Voss after Janice E. Voss, a NASA astronaut and Orbital employee who died on 6 February 2012.^[6]

Launch and early operations

The mission was originally scheduled to launch on 1 May 2014^[7] but the launch was delayed to 6 May 2014, then to 17 June 2014, then to 1 July 2014, again to 10 July 2014, again to 11 July 2014 due to test stand failure of an AJ-26 engine, to 12 July 2014 due to weather, and finally to 13 July 2014, again due to weather.^[8] Orb-2 launched on 13 July 2014 at 16:52:14UTC with berthing to the ISS following 3 days later on 16 July 2014.^[9] The Cygnus Orb-2 delivered of cargo to ISS and disposed of about of trash through destructive reentry.^[10]

Mission highlights

Flight Day 1 (launch): after a 10-minute flight sequence, Antares launched Cygnus into orbit on the same plane as the International Space Station, but significantly below it. Cygnus then deployed its solar arrays after separation from Antares. After a series of checks, ground controllers commanded Cygnus to begin increasing its altitude.
Flight Days 2 and 3: Cygnus continued to increase its altitude to match that of the space station.
Flight Day 4: NASA made a go/no-go decision for Cygnus to berth with the station whereupon Cygnus first autonomously approached within below the space station, where it stopped and held position. Astronauts aboard the station then commanded Cygnus to a "free drift" mode, where they captured it with the station's robotic arm attached to the station's nadir node.
Flight Day 5 to Day 36: ISS Astronauts opened Cygnus' hatch, unloaded the payload and filled it with cargo for disposal.
Flight Day 36 through Day 41 Cygnus was detached from the station and maneuvered a safe distance away. Engineering tests were conducted for 2 days before a series of engine burns were conducted to slow the spacecraft for reentry over the South Pacific Ocean, where it and the cargo inside were destroyed.^[3]

Manifest

Total weight of cargo: ^[3] ^[11]

Crew supplies:
- Crew care packages
- Crew provisions
- Food
Hardware:
- Crew health care system hardware
- Environment control and life-support equipment
- Electrical power system hardware
- Extravehicular robotics equipment
- Flight crew equipment
- PL facility
- Structural and mechanical equipment
- Internal thermal control system hardware
Science and research:
- CubeSats and deployers
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency dynamic surf hardware
- Human research program resupply
Computer supplies:
- Command and data handling
- Photo and TV equipment
Spacewalk tools:

Notes and References

News: Space industry giants Orbital upbeat ahead of Antares debut. NasaSpaceFlight.com. Bergin. Chris. 22 February 2012. 29 March 2012.
Web site: Orbital Sciences - Cygnus Orb-2 Mission Overview. Spaceflight101. 4 April 2020. https://archive.today/20160719190157/http://www.spaceflight101.net/cygnus-orb-2-mission-overview.html. 2016-07-19. usurped.
Orbital-2 Mission Media Press Kit. NASA. July 2014.
Web site: Launch Schedule. Spaceflight Now. 3 October 2012. 3 October 2012. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130911172414/http://spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html. 11 September 2013.
Web site: International Space Station Flight Schedule. SEDS. 15 May 2013.
News: After delays, Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket set to launch. Spaceflight Insider. Britt. Rawcliffe. 11 July 2014. 11 July 2014.
Web site: Launch Schedule. Spaceflight Now. 29 May 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130911172414/http://spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html. 11 September 2013.
Web site: ISS Commercial Resupply Services Mission (Orb-2). Orbital Sciences. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140407074542/http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/MissionUpdates/Orb-2/. 2014-04-07.
Web site: Antares rocket engine damaged in test mishap. Spaceflight Now. Stephen . Clark. 22 May 2014. 29 May 2014.
Web site: Orbital Begins Antares Rocket Operations at Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Orbital Sciences . Beneski. Barron. 1 October 2012. 2 October 2012.
Web site: Orb-2 Science Briefing Highlights. NASA . Garner. Rob. 11 July 2014. 11 July 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20151222231123/https://blogs.nasa.gov/orbital/2014/07/11/orb-2-science-briefing-highlights/. 22 December 2015. dead.