Updates Orbital Sciences' Cygnus CRS Flight 1 through Flight 8 updates.

[Cosmic Penguin]

If you have forgotten the main event times of the mission, here it is:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

T-5 minutes and counting.

 

[boogabooga]

Success!

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Launch video:

Quite a bit of rotation coming off the pad by my eye, but all fine in the end.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Launch video:

[ISS] Launch of Antares Rocket with Cygnus CRS-2 Spacecraft to ISS - YouTube

Quite a bit of rotation coming off the pad by my eye, but all fine in the end.

The rotation is deliberate to avoid the fire plume damaging ground equipment - it has been there since the very first flight.

The Cygnus will arrive at the arm of the ISS on Wednesday at ~10:39 UTC. :tiphat:

 

[Donamy]

But it looked like it impacted the base of the tower. The bottom of the rocket caught fire, but was put out by the increasing speed of the airstream.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

I just rewatched the launch... I see no flames where there shouldn't be. Part of what you're seeing is the light of the exhaust reflecting off the LOX vent plume.

 

[boogabooga]

Or did a fire start on the side of the rocket due to the oxygen rich vent stream?

 

[RGClark]

Success!

Congrats to Orbital Sciences on the successful launch.

Bob Clark

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Cygnus is inbound to the ISS with ETA being 1 hour ahead....

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Cygnus is inbound to the ISS with ETA being 1 hour ahead....

.....and caught by the SSRMS right at the time assumed by me! :thumbup:

 

[orb]

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Some great photos of the Cygnus arriving at the ISS: :tiphat:

 

[Ripley]

Stunning photos!

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Oh! Time flies so fast.....and another swan is nearing mission completion! h: Cygnus is leaving the station in just 3 hours from now and plans to burn up in the atmosphere 2 days later. (Watch NASA TV at 10:15 UTC for coverage for that)

The next Cygnus is already in processing at Wallops island for its flight sometime in October (depending on what happens with the other CRS provider ). It will be the last "standard Cygnus" on order - starting from Cygnus CRS-4 next year the enhanced version with a larger cargo cabin and new circular solar arrays from ATK (current ones are from Dutch Space - same provider as those on the ATV) will be flown. :tiphat:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

15 minutes to spacecraft release.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

I heard SSRMS screams "Let it go! Let it go!" as it failed to mimic the voice of good old Elsa.... :rofl:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK3s456ck-Y"][ISS] Cygnus CRS-2 Departs from International Space Station[/ame]

 

[ISProgram]

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Speaking of which....

...here's the final fireworks made by the Cygnus as it burns up in the atmosphere on August 17 - as photographed from the ISS!

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Cygnus CRS-3 update!

The next swan isn't far from liftoff right now. :tiphat:

Orbital and NASA today announced an updated schedule for the launch of the Orb-3 cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract. The launch of the Orb-3 mission is now scheduled for October 24, 2014, with a targeted lift-off time of 7:52 p.m. (EDT) from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), located at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. The Orb-3 mission schedule has been revised to account for normal pre-launch processing and testing of the Antares rocket at the Wallops Island launch site, and a busy flight schedule and related activities for the Expedition 41 crew aboard the ISS. Orbital will launch the Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft well ahead of the timeline necessary to accomplish a rendezvous and berthing with the ISS on the earliest possible date, which is November 2. The launch schedule has been established in order to build flexibility into the overall mission schedule in the event of an unexpected disruption such as adverse weather at the launch site. Following its launch, the Cygnus spacecraft will remain in orbit for approximately eight days before embarking on a series of carefully timed thruster burns to maneuver the spacecraft into close proximity to the ISS before it is grappled by crew members Reid Wiseman and Barry Wilmore who will be operating the Station’s robotic arm.

The Orb-3 mission represents the fifth launch of the company’s Antares rocket in its first 18 months of operations. It will also be the fourth cargo delivery mission to the ISS by a Cygnus spacecraft, including the 2013 demonstration flight. For Orb-3, Orbital will deliver its largest load of cargo to date, carrying approximately 5,050 pounds (2,290 kilograms) of cargo to the ISS for NASA. At the conclusion of the Orb-3 mission, the company will have carried a total of 13,378 pounds (6,078 kilograms) of essential supplies, equipment and scientific experiments to the ISS and will have removed 13,444 pounds (6,097 kilograms) of disposal cargo, a vital capability for the maintenance and operation of the Station.

http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/MissionUpdates/Orb-3/