Cargo Resupply Missions Awarded to NGC

NASA has awarded to additional cargo resupply missions to Northrop Grumman Corporation under the Commercial Resupply Services contract-2 (CRS-2), with launches occurring in 2023. Northrop Grumman will deliver a combined total of approximately 16,500 lbs. of cargo to the International Space Station during these missions.

“With these additional flights to the orbiting laboratory, we will provide services to both NASA and our commercial partners and continue to use Cygnus not as just a cargo delivery and disposal vehicle, but as a platform for science and technology research, and development opportunities.”

Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager, tactical space systems, Northrop Grumman.

“As a trusted and reliable partner to NASA, Northrop Grumman has played a critical role in keeping the International Space Station operational since 2014,” said Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager, tactical space systems, Northrop Grumman. “With these additional flights to the orbiting laboratory, we will provide services to both NASA and our commercial partners and continue to use Cygnus not as just a cargo delivery and disposal vehicle, but as a platform for science and technology research, and development opportunities.”

For the additional missions, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft will be carried into orbit by the company’s Antares launch vehicle from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. The company is currently providing resupply services to the station through the CRS-2 contract which began in 2016. Under this contract and the CRS-1 contract, Northrop Grumman has provided more than 150,000 lbs. of cargo logistics for the station.

Cygnus consists of a service module and a pressurized cargo module. The Cygnus spacecraft is used to carry crew supplies, spare equipment and scientific experiments to the space station. The service module incorporates advanced avionics developed by Northrop Grumman and guidance and navigation components that allow for fully autonomous rendezvous with the space station. The avionics design fully meets all of the demanding NASA safety requirements imposed on human-rated vehicles. The pressurized cargo module is manufactured by Thales Alenia Space specifically for Cygnus.

The Cygnus vehicle provides a number of advanced capabilities during these cargo resupply missions. The spacecraft has already demonstrated a number of these, including the launch of cube satellites from external deployers, the delivery of live rodents to the station, the ability to act as laboratory space while docked to the station, boosting the station's orbit and flying in orbit separately from the station for more than one year.

(Image provided with Northrop Grumman news release)