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The Cygnus freighter cargo ship that flew to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 21 with supplies and scientific equipment for Expedition 55-56 astronauts just left the laboratory in orbit for his return trip to Earth.
The spacecraft detached from the ISS at 8:35 am EDT (12:35 GMT) on July 15 and will return home at the end of the month, reports Space.com .
Cygnus was released from the space station with the help of Canadarm2 robotic arm, which released the vehicle from the unit module. Operated by the astronaut of the European Space Agency Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, the robot has moved Cygnus to a safe distance from the ISS and l & # 39; 39, then released in Low Earth Orbit
. moment of release, the station was flying Cygnus arrived at the ISS on May 24 with a cargo of 7,385 pounds (3,350 kilograms) built by Orbital ATK, which is now part of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. scientific experiments, crew supplies, and vehicle equipment, as reported by Inquisitr .
For his return trip to Earth, astronauts charged Cygnus with "thousands of pounds of trash" to be eliminated when the spaceship burns in the atmosphere of our planet upon its arrival.
Unlike SpaceX's Dragon cargo containers, which are built to land on Earth after transporting supplies to the ISS, the Cygnus spacecraft is non-reusable. is destroyed at the end of each mission.
NASA
This particular Cygnus vehicle, identified as Cygnus OA-9 – or "SS JR Thompson," in honor of James Robert "JR" Thompson, the late director of NASA and a member of the United States. Orbital ATK executive – will complete its mission on July 30th.
"Cygnus expected to land Monday with thousands of garbage July 30, it burns harmlessly over the Pacific Ocean as it enters the Earth's atmosphere," NASA officials said in a statement
because the cargo is torn on the Pacific, the deorbit is forced to land in the ocean, without causing damage to the populated areas, note Space.com .
But before the end of the mission, Cygnus OA-9 has one more thing to do: 19659003] "After its release, Cygnus will deploy a series of NanoRacks CubeSats clients. The cargo ship will then remain in orbit for another two weeks to allow the Cygnus air traffic control team to perform engineering tests, NASA said.
Frank DeMauro, of Northrop Grumman, made another interesting announcement . com that Cygnus now has a new skill that reusable dragon cargo ships do not have.
#NorthropGrumman SSJR Thompson #Cygnus successfully left ] @Space_Station this morning at 8:37 this morning and is now on his way to begin his secondary mission. https://t.co/WEINSPFMY5 pic.twitter.com/EApeDbHAmz
– Northrop Grumman (@northropgrumman) July 15, 2018
The Northrop Grumman spacecraft is now capable of to help the space station to raise its orbit when it disintegrates due to the aerodynamic drag experienced in the upper Earth's atmosphere.
This new capability was successfully tested on July 11 and allowed Cygnus to repel the ISS with its thrusters and increase its orbit. feet "(86 meters)."
"The burn went off very well," said DeMauro, vice president of the company's Advanced Programs Division, overseeing the Cygnus missions. "The spacecraft has behaved exactly as we expected."
In the future, visiting the Cygnus spacecraft could use the same procedure to lower the ISS's orbit and even desorb the space station when the time comes to remove it. ]! function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {if (f.fbq) returns; n = f.fbq = function () {n.callMethod?
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