The uncrewed Russian Progress 78 is scheduled to lift off on a Soyuz rocket at 7:27 p.m. EDT (4:27 a.m. Wednesday, June 30, Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a two-day journey to the orbiting laboratory.
The Cygnus space freighter is pictured shortly after its release from the Canadarm2 robotic arm above the United States. Credit: NASA TV
At 12:32 p.m. EDT, flight controllers on the ground sent commands to release the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft from the Canadarm2 robotic arm after earlier detaching Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the Unity module. At the time of release, the station was flying 270 miles over southern Wyoming.
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) June 29, 2021
The Cygnus spacecraft successfully departed the International Space Station four months after arriving at the space station to deliver about 8,000 pounds of scientific experiments and supplies to the orbiting laboratory.
After departure, Cygnus will remain in orbit to deploy five cube satellites, including the Ionosphere Thermosphere Scanning Photometer for Ion-Neutral Studies (IT-SPINS), which will add to researchers’ fundamental understanding of Earth’s Ionosphere, and the Khalifa University Students Satellite-2 (MYSat-2), which will train graduate students through the development and evaluation of its software.
Thursday evening Cygnus will perform a deorbit engine firing to set up a destructive re-entry in which the spacecraft, filled with waste the space station crew packed, will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.
As one cargo spacecraft departs the station, another is preparing to launch and deliver more than 3,600 pounds of supplies. Beginning at 7 p.m., NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app will provide live coverage of the launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan of Russia’s Progress 78 cargo spacecraft on a Soyuz 2.1a rocket at 7:27 p.m. (4:27 a.m. Wednesday, June 30, Baikonur time).
Cygnus Resupply Ship Leaving Station Today Live on NASA TV
The Cygnus space freighter is pictured moments before its capture with the Canadarm2 robotic arm on Feb. 22, 2021.
About four months after delivering several tons of scientific experiments and supplies to the International Space Station, Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed Cygnus cargo spacecraft is scheduled to depart the orbiting laboratory Tuesday, June 29. This morning, flight controllers on the ground sent commands to use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to robotically detach Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the Unity module and maneuver it into place.
Live coverage of the spacecraft’s release will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website, and the NASA app beginning at noon EDT, with its release from the robotic arm scheduled for 12:25 p.m.
NASA astronaut Megan McArthur will monitor Cygnus’ systems upon its departure from the space station.
The Cygnus resupply spacecraft is named after NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, a Black woman who broke through barriers of gender and race, calculating orbital mechanics for some of the first U.S. human spaceflights.
Cygnus arrived at the International Space Station Feb. 22 with nearly 8,000 pounds of scientific investigations and supplies following a launch two days prior on Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. It was the company’s 15th commercial resupply services mission to the space station for NASA.
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