Cygnus NG-10

Cygnus NG-10, also known as CRS-10,[7] previously known as CRS OA-10E, is the eleventh flight of the Northrop Grumman uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its tenth flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.[8][9] The mission launched on 17 November 2018 at 4:01 AM EST.[10][11] This particular mission is part of an extension of the initial CRS contract that enables NASA to cover the ISS resupply needs until the Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract enters in effect.[12]

Cygnus NG-10

S.S. John Young at the Space Station
Mission type	ISS resupply
Operator	NASA
COSPAR ID	2018-092A
SATCAT no.	43704
Mission duration	Final: 100 days, 4 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	S.S. John Young
Spacecraft type	Enhanced Cygnus[1][2]
Manufacturer	Northrop Grumman Thales Alenia Space
Start of mission
Launch date	17 November 2018 09:01:31 UTC
Rocket	Antares 230[3]
Launch site	MARS LP-0A
Contractor	Northrop Grumman
End of mission
Decay date	25 February 2019 09:05 UTC [4]
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Epoch	Planned
Berthing at ISS
Berthing port	Unity nadir[5]
RMS capture	19 November 2018, 10:28 UTC[5]
Berthing date	19 November 2018, 12:31 UTC[5]
Unberthing date	8 February 2019, 14:37 UTC[5]
RMS release	8 February 2019, 16:16 UTC[5]
Time berthed	Final: 81 days, 3 hours, 45 minutes
Cargo
Mass	3,350 kg (7,385.5 lb)[6]
Pressurised	3,273 kg (7,215.8 lb)[6]
Unpressurised	77 kg (169.8 lb)[6]
Commercial Resupply Services   Cygnus flights

Orbital ATK 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.[13] Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital in June 2018, and it was renamed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.[14]

History

A bald eagle is seen atop a lightning tower next to the Northrop Grumman Antares rocket with, Cygnus spacecraft on board, at Pad-0A, Wednesday, 14 Nov. 2018 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The COTS demonstration mission was successfully conducted in September 2013, and Orbital commenced operational ISS cargo missions under the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) program with two missions in 2014. Regrettably, the third operational mission, Orb CRS-3, resulted was not successful due to spectacular Antares failure during launch. The company decided to discontinue the Antares 100 series and accelerate the introduction of a new propulsion. The Antares system will be upgraded with newly built RD-181 first-stage engines to provide greater payload performance and increased reliability.[3]

In the meantime, the company had contracted with United Launch Alliance for an Atlas V launch of CRS OA-4 in late 2015 from Cape Canaveral, FL, with a second Atlas V Cygnus launch in 2016.[3][15] The company had planned Cygnus missions for the first (CRS OA-5), second (CRS OA-6) and fourth quarters (CRS OA-7) of 2016. Two of which flew on the new Antares 230 and one on the aforementioned second Atlas V. These three missions enabled Orbital ATK to cover their initial CRS contracted payload obligation.[15][12] This particular mission, known as NG-10E, is part of an extension program that will enable NASA to cover the ISS resupply needs until the Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract enters in effect, and thus the E indicates that it actually is an extension above the originally contracted payload transport.[12]

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.[13]

Spacecraft

Main article: Cygnus (spacecraft)

This is the second-to-last of the eleven flights by Northrop Grumman under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA, and it's considered an extension over the originally contracted flights. This will be the seventh flight of the Enhanced sized Cygnus PCM.[15]

In an Orbital ATK tradition, this Cygnus spacecraft was named the S.S. John Young. He was the only person to fly twice on each of three NASA programs which included Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle. John Young died on 5 January 2018 at the age of 87.

Launch and early operations

Northrop Grumman Antares CRS-10 Launch (NHQ201811170010)

After Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital ATK in June 2018, the mission was changed from OA-10E to NG-10. The Antares rocket was built and processed in the Horizontal Integration Facility over the course of six months. The rocket was rolled out to MARS pad 0A where it was originally planned to launch 15 November 2018 but was twice delayed due to inclement weather and successfully launched on 17 November.

Attempt	Planned	Result	Turnaround	Reason	Decision Point	Weather go (%)	Notes
1	15 Nov 2018 4:49:38 AM	Delayed	24 hrs	Weather	14 Nov 2018 11:00 AM	10%	Concerns over bad weather.
2	16 Nov 2018 4:23:55 AM	Delayed	24 hrs	Weather	15 Nov 2018 11:10 AM	45%	Continuing concerns of bad weather.
3	17 Nov 2018 4:01:31 AM	Launch				95%	Launched successfully

Manifest

Total weight of cargo: 3,350 kg (7,385.5 lb).[6]

• Crew supplies: 1,141 kg (2,515.5 lb)
• Science investigations: 1,044 kg (2,301.6 lb)
• Spacewalk equipment: 31 kg (68.3 lb)
• Vehicle hardware: 942 kg (2,076.8 lb)
• Computer resources: 115 kg (253.5 lb)

References

1. Bergin, Chris (22 February 2012). "Space industry giants Orbital upbeat ahead of Antares debut". NasaSpaceflight (not affiliated with NASA). Retrieved 29 March 2012.
2. "Orbital ATK Team on Track for Fall 2015 Cygnus Mission and Antares Return to Flight in 2016". Orbital ATK. 12 August 2015. Archived from the original on 14 August 2015.
3. Gebhardt, Chris (14 August 2015). "Orbital ATK make progress toward Return To Flight of Antares rocket". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
4. NG-10 Cygnus ends post-ISS mission after deploying satellites
5. Clark, Stephen (19 November 2018). "Space station receives second of back-to-back cargo deliveries". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
6. "Northrop Grumman CRS-10 Mission Overview" (PDF). nasa.gov. NASA. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
7. Overview - CRS-10 mission, Northrop Grumman and NASA.
8. "Worldwide launch schedule". spaceflightnow.com. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
9. "International Space Station Flight Schedule". Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. 15 May 2013.
10. "Space.com".
11. Clark, Stephen (14 October 2018). "Launch schedule". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
12. Leone, Dan (20 August 2015). "NASA Considering More Cargo Orders from Orbital ATK, SpaceX". SpaceNews.com. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
13. "Cygnus Fact Sheet" (PDF). Orbital ATK. 24 March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
14. Erwin, Sandra (5 June 2018). "Acquisition of Orbital ATK approved, company renamed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems". SpaceNews. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
15. Leone, Dan (17 August 2015). "NASA Orders Two More ISS Cargo Missions From Orbital ATK". SpaceNews.com. Retrieved 17 August 2015.