Orbital ATK-Built Cygnus Spacecraft to Leave ISS, Conduct Secondary Missions

An Orbital ATK-built spacecraft is scheduled to depart the International Space Station on Wednesday after a cargo delivery effort to perform secondary missions.

NASA said Friday Cygnus will be detached from ISS’ Unity module with the Canadarm2 robotic arm, then the vehicle will be maneuvered over the Harmony module to collect data that will support future rendezvous and docking operations involving the latter module.

Cygnus reached ISS on Nov. 14, two days after it was launched aboard Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia and carried 7,400 pounds of cargo for the space station.

It represents the company’s eighth cargo resupply mission under a contract with NASA.

The spacecraft will deploy 14 CubeSats into orbit after it departs ISS, then re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on Dec. 18 to burn up over the Pacific Ocean with 5,500 pounds of trash.