Antares Rocket launches NASA cargo transfer to space station during dazzling Predawn take-off

WALLOPS ISLAND, Virginia – A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket illuminated Saturday morning (November 17) the dawn sky over Virginia before launching a private Cygnus spacecraft containing NASA supplies (and even ice) to the Space Station international.

The Antares rocket flew into the cold skies over the east coast of Virginia, carrying an unmanned Cygnus spacecraft, filled with tons of scientific experiments, food and other vital supplies for the space station team. Takeoff took place at 04:01 EST (0:01 GMT) from Pad-0A at the Central Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

There are approximately 7,400 books. (3,400 kilograms) for the crew of the Expedition 57 crew from the onboard Cygnus spacecraft. This includes fresh fruit and ice cream, a welcome treat for astronauts, said Joel Montalbano, Program Manager at NASA's Assistant Station, prior to its launch. [See more amazing photos of the Antares launch]

If all goes well, the cargo ship will arrive early Monday, November 19 and will be captured via a robotic arm by the astronauts of the station. The mission, called NG-10, is NASA's tenth flight Cygnus under a commercial contract with Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman named Cygnus SS John Young in honor of NASA's famous astronaut John Young, who flew the Gemini 3 and 10, Apollo 10 and 16 missions, as well as the STS-1 and STS space shuttles -9. Young died in January at the age of 87.

Strange Science on Cygnus

Very strange scientists are throwing themselves into space on Cygnus.

Tara Ruttley, NASA's associate chief scientist for microgravity research, said there was enough scientific material for more than 250 different experiments designed by scientists and students on Earth.

This includes a study on protein growth by the Michael J. Fox Foundation to study the structure of the LRRK2 protein, implicated in the progression of Parkinson's disease.

"Knowing the elusive structure of this particular protein could help improve the therapeutic treatment of this disease," said Ruttley.

Another experiment is to send the very first "lab-on-a-chip" experiment to the space station to study how muscle cells atrophy in weightlessness. Another team at Penn State University will use a small centrifuge on the space station to test concrete fabrication in space for future bases on the Moon or Mars.

And then there is the Refabricator. This combined 3D printer and recycler is designed not only to print articles, but also to recycle plastic waste in the printer's power supply, as a kind of "Star Trek" proto-replicator.

"This is a key part of the roadmap for manufacturing technology demo in the space industry," Ruttley said.

Cygnus will remain parked at the space station until February, when it will be filled with garbage and released to intentionally burn itself in the Earth 's atmosphere. But before destroying itself, Cygnus will deploy a series of small cubesats built by students and 105 tiny "chipsats" – tiny wafer-like satellites measuring only 3.5 centimeters (3 cm) from the side.

"They look like tiny PC boards that can potentially integrate a lot of different sensors," said Ruttley, adding that the chipset test was designed to determine how they would survive. "They are really tiny."

Double delivery for the space station

Today's launch of Antares and Cygnus comes just in the aftermath of another cargo ship, the Russian Progress 71 vehicle, launched as part of its own mission to the station Space. This mission launched nearly 3 tons of food, fuel and other supplies.

Progress 71 will arrive at the space station on Sunday 18 November. Cygnus will follow closely on Monday morning.

One thing that is not on board the Cygnus or the Progress 71: a Thanksgiving dinner for the crew of the station.

Astronauts traditionally consider the Thanksgiving Day as one of many celebrations marking the cultural diversity of station crews. The crew of Expedition 57, for example, includes American Serena Auńon-Chancellor, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev and German commander Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency.

So why not turkey dinner on Cygnus or Progress? There is a simple answer: dinner is already here. It was shipped for a first replenishment mission of the Expedition 57 crew, said Montalbano.

"We like to plan ahead," he added.

Editor's note: You can watch the arrivals of Progress 71 and Cygnus live here, with the kind permission of NASA TV. NASA's Progress 71 webcast will open Sunday at 1:45 pm EST (18:45 GMT). The webcast on the arrival of Cygnus NG-10 will begin at 4:00 am EST (9:00 am GMT).

Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him. @tariqjmalik. follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.