The International Space Station (ISS) crew welcomed the Cygnus spacecraft yesterday as it
resupplies the station with a variety of items, including spacewalking equipment, Earth-imaging nanosatellites, and hardware to allow free-flying
robots to conduct 3-D mapping inside the station. Nanosatelites? Free-floating robots? The ISS appears to be an experiment base for the next phase of the space program, which sounds like a very useful role.
This private space launch by Orbital Sciences represents the second successful mission by this company in addition to the multiple successful missions by SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. All of this fares well for a nation that wants to become more independent of the Russians and fill in a gap left by the previous Space Shuttle missions.
