Cygnus NG-12

Cygnus NG-12, previously known as CRS OA-12, was the thirteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its twelfth flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.[6][7] The mission launched on 2 November 2019 at 9:59 AM (13:59 UTC).[1] This was the first launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.[8]

Cygnus NG-12

S.S. Alan Bean at the ISS
Mission type	ISS resupply
Operator	Northrop Grumman
COSPAR ID	2019-071A
SATCAT no.	44701
Mission duration	136 days, 9 hours
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	S.S. Alan Bean
Spacecraft type	Enhanced Cygnus
Manufacturer	Northrop Grumman Thales Alenia Space
Start of mission
Launch date	2 November 2019, 13:59:47 (2019-11-02UTC13:59:47) UTC[1]
Rocket	Antares 230+
Launch site	MARS LP-0A
Contractor	Northrop Grumman
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited
Decay date	17 March 2020, 23:00 (2020-03-18UTC00) UTC[2]
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Epoch	Planned
Berthing at ISS
Berthing port	Unity nadir
RMS capture	4 November 2019, 09:10 UTC[3]
Berthing date	4 November 2019, 11:21 UTC[4]
Unberthing date	31 January 2020, 13:10 UTC
RMS release	31 January 2020, 14:36 UTC
Time berthed	88 days, 3 hours, 15 minutes
Cargo
Mass	3,705 kg (8,168 lb)[5]
Pressurised	3,586 kg (7,905 lb)[5]
Unpressurised	119 kg (262 lb)[5]
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.[9] Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital in June 2018; its ATK division was renamed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.[10]

History

Northrop Grumman launches the Cygnus NG-12 mission.

Cygnus NG-12 was the first mission under the Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract and launched 2 November 2019 at 13:59:47 UTC.[1]

Spacecraft

Main article: Cygnus (spacecraft)

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 at Dulles and Houston.[9] This is the eighth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM.[11]

In 2019 the spacecraft was named the S.S. Alan Bean.[12]

Manifest

Total weight of cargo: 3,705 kg (8,168 lb), consisting of 3,586 kg (7,905 lb) in pressurized cargo and 119 kg (262 lb) in unpressurized cargo.[5]

• Crew supplies: 680 kg (1,499 lb)
• Science investigations: 1,983 kg (4,372 lb)
• Spacewalk equipment: 104 kg (229 lb)
• Vehicle hardware: 756 kg (1,667 lb)
• Computer resources: 17 kg (37 lb)
• Russian hardware: 11 kg (24 lb)
• Northrop Grumman-related equipment: 35 kg (77 lb)

Among the cargo delivered was a special made oven for use in space, and some cookie dough. The crew of ISS will attempt to use the device to bake chocolate chip cookies in space (a first time for this kind of space activity). The baking of cookies in space attracted some international media attention when the mission was arriving at the space station.[3][13][14]

NG 12 tested the Cygnus External Payload Carrier which is used to deliver external payloads to the station or remove degraded ones. SOLAR and the SDS were the first payloads transferred to the spacecraft for disposal. [15]

Extension

Northrop Grumman’s customer with a payload on the Cygnus (Lynk) sought extra time in orbit, a request that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved on March 3. The FCC approval provided the potential to extend this testing until as late as April 2.

“The extension of our license by the FCC allows Northrop Grumman to extend our NG-12 mission beyond our original completion date, enabling us to offer increased operational flexibility for our customers,” Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager of Tactical Space at Northrop Grumman, said in the statement. “The NG-12 spacecraft remains in excellent health as we carry out a few more weeks of in-orbit operations.”[16]

The spacecraft was deorbited at about 23:00 UTC on March 17, 2020.[2]

References

1. Gebhardt, Chris (4 November 2019). "Cygnus NG-12 arrives at ISS with increased science capability". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
3. Clark, Stephen (4 November 2019). "Space station receives spacewalking gear, new baking oven". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
4. Garcia, Mark (4 November 2019). "Cygnus Resupply Ship Attached to Unity for Cargo Operations". NASA. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
5. "Northrop Grumman CRS-12 Mission Overview" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
6. "Worldwide launch schedule". spaceflightnow.com. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
7. "International Space Station Flight Schedule". Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. 15 May 2013.
8. Gebhardt, Chris (1 June 2018). "Orbital ATK looks ahead to CRS2 Cygnus flights, Antares on the commercial market". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
9. "Cygnus Fact Sheet" (PDF). Orbital ATK. 24 March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
10. Erwin, Sandra (5 June 2018). "Acquisition of Orbital ATK approved, company renamed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems". SpaceNews. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
11. Leone, Dan (17 August 2015). "NASA Orders Two More ISS Cargo Missions From Orbital ATK". SpaceNews.com. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
12. "Northrop Grumman names 12th Cygnus ship for Apollo 12 astronaut". collectSPACE. 24 October 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
13. "Cookies in space: Oven sent to ISS for baking experiments". BBC News. 2 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
14. Waldrop, Theresa (3 November 2019). "Out of this world dessert: Cookie dough and oven headed to space station". CNN News. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
15. Clark, Stephen. "Cygnus departs space station, deploys CubeSats – Spaceflight Now". Retrieved 12 June 2020.
16. Foust, Jeff (4 March 2020). "Cygnus mission extended for tests of communications payload". Space News.