WASHINGTON, March 23, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
Scientific investigations of fire in microgravity and grippers
inspired by geckos are among the nearly 7,500 pounds of cargo
headed to the International Space Station aboard an Orbital ATK
Cygnus spacecraft, along with equipment to support some 250 other
experiments and studies aboard the world's only orbital
laboratory.
Orbital ATK's fifth cargo delivery flight under its Commercial
Resupply Services contract with NASA launched at 11:05 p.m. EDT Tuesday on a United Launch
Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Cygnus is scheduled to arrive at
the orbiting laboratory Saturday, March
26.
The station's Expeditions 47 and 48 crews will employ these
science payloads to support experiments in biology, biotechnology,
physical science and Earth science – research that improves life on
Earth -- including:
- Saffire-I provides a new way to study a large fire on an
exploration craft, which has not been possible in the past because
the risks for performing such studies on spacecraft with astronauts
aboard are too high.
- Meteor will enable the first space-based observations of
meteors entering Earth's atmosphere from space.
- Strata-I could give us answers about how regolith behaves and
moves in microgravity, how easy or difficult it is to anchor a
spacecraft in regolith, how it interacts with spacecraft and
spacesuit materials, and other important properties.
- The Gecko Gripper study tests a gecko-inspired adhesive
gripping device that can stick on command in the harsh environment
of space.
- The Additive Manufacturing Facility will add an upgraded 3-D
printing capability to the station.
NASA astronaut and Expedition 46 Commander Tim Kopra will capture Cygnus at about
6:40 a.m. Saturday, March 26, using
the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to take hold of the
spacecraft. Astronaut Tim Peake of
ESA (European Space Agency) will support Kopra in a backup
position. NASA TV coverage of capture will begin at 5:30 a.m.
Saffire-1 will remain on the spacecraft once all the other
supplies are unloaded, and the vehicle will be attached to the
space station for about two months. Once it departs and the
spacecraft is a safe distance from the space station, engineers
will remotely conduct the first Saffire experiment before the
Cygnus' destructive reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Before
detaching from the station, Cygnus will also be filled with about
3,000 pounds of trash, which will be burned up over the Pacific
Ocean.
This is the second flight of an enhanced Cygnus spacecraft, and
the second using the Atlas V launch system. The cargo freighter
features a greater payload capacity, supported by new fuel tanks
and solar arrays, and an extended pressurized cargo module that
increases the spacecraft's interior volume by 25 percent, enabling
more cargo to be delivered with each launch.
The space station is a convergence of science, technology and
human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes
research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has
been continuously occupied since November
2000. In that time, it has been visited by more than 200
people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft.
The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap
in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and
Mars.
For more information about Orbital ATK's mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/orbitalatk
For more information about the International Space Station,
visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
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SOURCE NASA