A few hours ago, the Cygnus cargo spacecraft, built by Northrop Grumman engineers, successfully reached the International Space Station. According to NASA representatives, the crew managed to successfully capture the spacecraft.
At 12:28 Moscow time, Ann McClain, using a special Canadarm2 robotic arm, grabbed Cygnus, and David Saint-Jacques recorded the readings coming from the spacecraft at the moment of approach to the station. The process of docking Cygnus with the US Unity module will be controlled from Earth.
The Antares launch vehicle, along with the Cygnus spacecraft, was launched from the Vallops spaceport, located on the east coast of the United States, on Wednesday, April 17. The launch went smoothly without any hiccups. The first stage, powered by the Russian RD-181 engine, successfully separated three minutes into flight.
The total weight of the cargo delivered by Cygnus to the International Space Station is approximately 3,5 tons. Among other things, the ship transported essentials, various equipment, as well as laboratory mice that will be used in the process of scientific research. It is expected that the cargo ship will remain in this state until mid-July this year, after which it will disconnect from the ISS and continue to stay in orbit until December 2019. During this time, it is planned to launch several compact satellites, as well as carry out scientific experiments.
Source: 3dnews.ru