Orbital ATK is back after a rough year. The successful Sunday launch of the Cygnus capsule aboard an Atlas V rocket put the company back in rotation for International Space Station (ISS) resupply missions, even if it has yet to field its own rocket. This is also the maiden voyage of an Atlas V rocket in an ISS mission.
The Cygnus spacecraft will arrive at the space station tomorrow morning. The payload includes items lost in recent mission failures (three in a little over a year).
Update: The Cygnus space capsule (pictured below) safely arrived at the ISS Wednesday morning. According to NASA, Cygnus has a diverse payload:
In its press release announcing the successful mission, Orbital ATK stated it hopes to begin using its own Antares rocket by next year:Science payloads will support science and research investigations that will occur during the space station’s Expeditions 45 and 46, including experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science -- research that impacts life on Earth. Investigations will offer a new life science facility that will support studies on cell cultures, bacteria and other microorganisms, a microsatellite deployer and the first microsatellite that will be deployed from the space station, and experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids and clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel and evaluations of flame-resistant textiles
Under the CRS contract with NASA, Orbital ATK will deliver approximately 62,000 pounds (28,000 kilograms) of cargo to the ISS over 10 missions through 2018. To date, the company has delivered more than seven tons of essential supplies to the ISS since the first mission conducted in early 2014, with three additional CRS missions scheduled for 2016. Another Cygnus mission will be launched on an Atlas V in March, after which Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket will launch at least two ISS resupply missions in the second and fourth quarters of 2016.
