Cygnus CRS OA-6

Cygnus CRS OA-6

Cygnus CRS OA-6 approaching the ISS on 26 March 2016
Mission type ISS resupply
Operator NASA
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Enhanced Cygnus[1][2]
Manufacturer Orbital Sciences
Thales Alenia Space
Start of mission
Launch date March 23, 2016, 03:05:52 (2016-03-23UTC03:05:52) UTC[3]
Rocket Atlas V 401
Launch site Cape Canaveral SLC-41
Contractor United Launch Alliance
End of mission
Disposal Deorbited
Decay date June 22, 2016, 13:05 UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Inclination 51.6 degrees
Epoch Planned
Berthing at ISS
Berthing port Unity nadir
RMS capture March 26, 2016, 10:51 UTC[4]
Berthing date March 26, 2016, 14:52 UTC
Unberthing date June 14, 2016, 11:43 UTC
RMS release June 14, 2016, 13:30 UTC
Time berthed 80 days


NASA OA-6 mission patch

Commercial Resupply Services
← Cygnus CRS OA-4 Cygnus CRS OA-5 →

Cygnus CRS OA-6, also known as Orbital Sciences CRS Flight 6, is the sixth flight of the Orbital ATK unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its fifth flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.[3][5]

The Cygnus spacecraft for this mission is named the S.S. Rick Husband in honor of astronaut Rick Husband.[6]

History

The first COTS demonstration mission with a Cygnus concluded successfully in September 2013 and Orbital commenced operational ISS cargo missions under the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) program with two missions in 2014. However, the third operational mission, Orb CRS-3, was unsuccessful due to catastrophic failure of its Antares 130 launch vehicle. Orbital discontinued the Antares 100 series in favor of the planned Antares 200, upgraded with newly built RD-181 first stage engines to provide greater payload performance and increased reliability.[7]

While the Antares 200 was under development in 2015–2016, the company contracted with United Launch Alliance for the Atlas V launch of CRS OA-4, which occurred on 6 December 2015, to be followed by the Atlas V launch of CRS OA-6 on 23 March 2016.[8]

Orbital ATK plans subsequent launches of CRS OA-5 in Q3 2016 and CRS OA-7 in Q4 2016 on the new Antares 230. Together with CRS OA-6, these missions will enable Orbital ATK to cover their initial CRS contracted payload obligation.[9]

Production and integration of Cygnus spacecraft is 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 and Houston.[10]

Launch

On 23 March 2016 (UTC), Cygnus CRS OA-6 was successfully launched by the Atlas V into Low Earth orbit. During the flight, the rocket had a first-stage anomaly that led to shutdown of the first-stage engine approximately five seconds before anticipated. The anomaly forced the Centaur upper stage of the rocket to fire for approximately one minute longer than planned, using reserved fuel margin, but did not significantly impact payload orbital insertion. The preplanned deorbit burn successfully deorbited the stage, but not precisely within the designated location. The issue marked the first Atlas V anomaly in over eight years to be publicly acknowledged by ULA.[11] [12]

Spacecraft

Main article: Cygnus (spacecraft)

OA-6 is the fifth of ten flights by Orbital ATK under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. This will be the second flight of the Enhanced sized Cygnus PCM.[9] The delay of the NOAA GOES-R satellite from March 2016 to October 2016 created this Atlas V launch opportunity for CRS OA-6 to be launched before OA-5. The mission was launched on March 23, 2016.[3][13]

In keeping with an Orbital Sciences tradition, this Cygnus spacecraft is named the S.S. Rick Husband after the NASA astronaut who commanded the Space Shuttle Columbia's fatal STS-107 mission in 2003.[14]

Manifest

Total weight of cargo: 3,513 kg (7,745 lb) using Enhanced Cygnus.[2][15]

Saffire-1

Saffire-1 is a NASA test to study flammability and fire propagation in space, using the CRS OA-6 after it has delivered cargo to the International Space Station. The spacecraft is fitted with various sensors and cameras to record data during what is expected to be a 20-minute fire, to determine how much fire resistance is needed in the ultra-light material used in the spacecraft and astronaut's gear. OA-6 will later disintegrate as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.[18]

Other ORB projects

After this OA-6 flight, NASA plans to launch two more Cygnus cargo missions in 2016: OA-5 on July 6 and OA-7 on December 30. They will be followed by three flights from the extended contract: OA-8E on June 12, 2017, OA-9E later in 2017 and OA-10E in 2018. The schedules in early 2017 are dynamic, due to the first manned commercial flights (SpaceX, Boeing) to ISS.[5][19]

References

  1. ↑ Bergin, Chris (February 22, 2012). "Space industry giants Orbital upbeat ahead of Antares debut". NasaSpaceflight (not affiliated with NASA). Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Orbital ATK Team on Track for Fall 2015 Cygnus Mission and Antares Return to Flight in 2016". Orbital ATK. August 12, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Clark, Stephen. "Launch Schedule". spaceflightnow.com. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  4. ↑ Ray, Justin (March 26, 2016). "Traveling Cygnus pulls into port at International Space Station". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 2016-03-27.
  5. 1 2 Frommert, Hartmut (December 17, 2015). "International Space Station Flight Schedule". Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  6. ↑ "OA-6 Mission Page". www.orbitalatk.com. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  7. ↑ Gebhardt, Chris (August 14, 2015). "Orbital ATK make progress toward Return To Flight of Antares rocket". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Orbital ATK Looks Ahead as Cygnus Arrives at ISS - SpaceNews.com". SpaceNews.com. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  9. 1 2 Leone, Dan (August 17, 2015). "NASA Orders Two More ISS Cargo Missions From Orbital ATK". SpaceNews.com. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Cygnus Fact Sheet" (PDF). Orbital ATK. March 24, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 26, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  11. ↑ Ray, Justin (24 March 2016). "Atlas 5 rocket forced to improvise during Tuesday's climb to orbit". SpaceFlight Now. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  12. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2016-03-24). "ULA confirms engine issue on latest Atlas launch". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
  13. ↑ Scimemi, Sam (July 2015). "International Space Station Status" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  14. ↑ Sanders, Shaley (2016-03-09). "Orbital ATK names space station freighter in honor of TTU grad". KCBD. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
  15. ↑ "Mission Page: OA-6 Space Station Cargo Resupply". Orbital ATK. 26 March 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-27.
  16. ↑ Krebs, Gunter Dirk (29 March 2016). "The Flock Earth observing constellation". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  17. ↑ Graham, William (March 22, 2016). "OA-6 Cygnus launched to the ISS via Atlas V". NASA Spaceflight. Retrieved 2016-03-27.
  18. ↑ NASA to light large blaze in space as part of new fire safety experiment, AFP via ABC News Online, 16 March 2016
  19. ↑ Krebs, Gunter Dirk (August 18, 2015). "Cygnus-PCM (enhanced)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
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