Supply spacecraft arrives to International Space Station on limited power
Northrop Grumman launched the Cygnus spacecraft on Nov. 7 from Virginia. After reaching orbit, only one of the spacecraft's two solar arrays opened. The spacecraft had enough power to complete the journey to the International Space Station, where it was installed Wednesday morning.
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with the company’s Cygnus spacecraft aboard, launched at 5:32 a.m. EST, Monday, Nov. 7, 2022, from the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Credit: NASA (NASA)
A spacecraft delivering thousands of pounds of supplies to the International Space Station arrived Wednesday morning operating with half of its power.
Northrop Grumman launched the Cygnus spacecraft on Nov. 7 from Virginia with supplies and research for the ISS. After reaching orbit, only one of the spacecraft's two solar arrays opened.
The spacecraft is carrying 8,200 pounds of crew supplies, research, hardware and science to the orbiting laboratory.
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Northrop Grumman officials told NASA that Cygnus had sufficient power to rendezvous with the International Space Station on Wednesday.
According to NASA, Northrop did not attempt to deploy the second solar array after the first attempts were unsuccessful to focus on the spacecraft's arrival to the ISS.
"The Cygnus team is gathering information on why the second array did not deploy as planned," NASA said in an update Tuesday.
July 2022 file photo: Northrop Grumman's Cygnus space freighter is positioned away from the International Space Station in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm prior to its release ending a four-month stay attached to the orbiting lab's Unity module. (NASA)
The Cygnus spacecraft, named S.S. Sally Ride after the late astronaut, began its approach to the ISS around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Using the space station robotic Canadaarm, NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and NASA astronaut Josh Cassada as backup, captured Cygnus. Ground controllers then installed the spacecraft on the Unity module of the International Space Station.
NASA did not report any issues during the capture or installation.
The mission marks Northrop Grumman's 18th supply run to the ISS for NASA. The spacecraft will remain at the space station until late January before undocking.
SpaceX will launch another round of supplies to the ISS in November.