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U.S. Commercial Cargo Spaceship Heads to the International Space Station

Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket blasted off Nov. 12 from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to send the company’s Cygnus spacecraft to orbit on the start o...

Cygnus CRS OA-8 (S.S. Gene Cernan)

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Resupply

Low Earth Orbit Launch Area 0 A Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA Probability: 95%

This is the ninth planned flight of the Orbital ATK's unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its eighth flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.

Antares 230

Family:
Configuration: 230

Antares known during early development as Taurus II, is an expendable launch system developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (now part of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems after Northrop Grumman acquired Orbital ATK) and the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau to launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA's COTS and CRS programs. Able to launch payloads heavier than 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) into low-Earth orbit, Antares is the largest rocket operated by Orbital ATK. Antares launches from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and made its inaugural flight on April 21, 2013.

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Specifications
  • Stages
    3
  • Length
    42.5 m
  • Diameter
    3.9 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    286.0 T
  • Thrust
    3844.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Antares 230
  • Family
  • Variant
    230
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Antares 230
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    7800.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Cygnus CRS OA-8E


Active Cargo Unmanned Payload Capacity: 3750 kg
Destination: International Space Station
Serial Number: None

Cygnus CRS OA-8E, also known as Orbital ATK CRS-8E, was the ninth flight of the Orbital ATK unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its eighth flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. Orbital 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 System (COTS) program, then Orbital Sciences designed and built Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced maneuvering spacecraft, and a Pressurized Cargo Module which is provided by Orbital's industrial partner Thales Alenia Space.

Cygnus Enhanced Details

Northrop Grumman Space Systems

Northrop Grumman Space Systems

(NGSS)

CEO: Kathy Warden Founded: 2015 Successes: 14 Failures: 0 Pending: 6

Agency Type:

Northrup Grumman Space Systems designs, builds and delivers space, defence and aviation-related systems to customers around the world. They aquired Orbital ATK in 2018 along with its launchers and ongoing missions.

INFO WIKI

Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

Launch Area 0 A


Falcon 9
Success
17 hours, 48 minutes ago
Starlink Group 6-66
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
21 hours, 33 minutes ago
Progress MS-29 (90P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Starship
Success
2 days, 11 hours ago
Integrated Flight Test 6
Orbital Launch Mount A - SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

Sixth test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 15 hours ago
GSAT-20 (GSAT-N2)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

GSAT-20 is an Indian geostationary Ka-band high-throughput communications satellite. GSAT 20 is reportedly built on the I-6K unified modular bus a…


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 4 hours ago
Starlink Group 9-12
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 11 hours ago
Optus-X/TD7
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

An unannounced geostationary communication satellite built by Northrop Grumman, alleged for the Australian telecommunications operator Optus. Details…


Long March 7
Success
6 days, 18 hours ago
Tianzhou-8
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Seventh cargo delivery mission to the Chinese space station.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 6-68
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 9-11
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 4B
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Haiyang 4-01
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Next generation Chinese ocean salinity measurements satellite to study ocean climatic changes and its effects on ecology and biological cycles.