Cygnus NG-17 (original) (raw)

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2022 American resupply spaceflight to the ISS

NG-17

Antares 230+ launches with NG-17 spacecraft onboard
Names CRS NG-17CRS OA-17 (2016–2018)
Mission type ISS resupply
Operator Northrop Grumman
COSPAR ID 2022-015A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no. 51712Edit this on Wikidata
Website Cygnus NG-17
Mission duration 119 days, 13 hours, 14 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft S.S. Piers Sellers
Spacecraft type Enhanced Cygnus
Manufacturer Northrop GrummanThales Alenia Space
Launch mass 8,050 kg (17,750 lb)
Payload mass 3,729 kg (8,221 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date 19 February 2022, 17:40:03 (19 February 2022, 17:40:03) UTC (12:40:03 pm EST)
Rocket Antares 230+
Launch site MARS, Pad 0A
End of mission
Disposal Deorbited
Decay date 29 June 2022, 06:55 (29 June 2022, 06:55) UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric orbit
Regime Low Earth orbit
Inclination 51.66°
Berthing at ISS
Berthing port Unity nadir
RMS capture 21 February 2022, 09:44 UTC
Berthing date 21 February 2022, 12:02 UTC
Unberthing date 28 June 2022, 07:00 UTC
RMS release 28 June 2022, 11:07 UTC
Time berthed 126 days, 18 hours, 58 minutes
Cargo
Mass 3,729 kg (8,221 lb)
Pressurised 3,651 kg (8,049 lb)
Unpressurised 78 kg (172 lb)
NASA mission patchCommercial Resupply Services← SpaceX CRS-24SpaceX CRS-25 → Cygnus flights← NG-16NG-18 →

NG-17,[1] previously known as OA-17, was the seventeenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its sixteenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. The mission launched on 19 February 2022 at 17:40:03 UTC.[2] It was the sixth launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.[3][4]

Orbital ATK’s space division (now part of Northrop Grumman Space Systems) and NASA jointly developed a new space transportation system to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS). Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, Orbital ATK designed, acquired, built, and assembled these components: Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced spacecraft using a Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) provided by industrial partner Thales Alenia Space and a Service Module based on the Orbital GEOStar satellite bus.[5]

NG-17 was the sixth Cygnus mission under the Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract.

Production and integration of Cygnus spacecraft are performed in Dulles, Virginia. The Cygnus service module is mated with the pressurized cargo module at the launch site, and mission operations are conducted from control centers in Dulles, Virginia and Houston, Texas.[5]

This was the twelfth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM.[4][6] Northrop Grumman named this spacecraft after Piers Sellers, in celebration of his role in assembling the International Space Station.[1]

Cygnus spacecraft is loaded with 3,651 kg (8,049 lb) of research, hardware, and crew supplies.[7][8]

Aside from the orbital delivery, Cygnus performed the program's first operational reboost of the ISS. The space station's orbit needs to be changed from time to time as it naturally falls back in Earth's atmosphere.[9] The ISS will change its attitude by about 90 degrees before executing the Cygnus reboost on 18 June 2022.[10][11]

On 20 June 2022 at 15:20 UTC, Cygnus NG-17 gimbal engine was scheduled to fire for 5 minutes and 1 second but the firing was aborted after 5 seconds.[12]

On Saturday, June 25, 2022 at 17:42 UTC, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus completed its first limited reboost of the International Space Station. Cygnus’ gimbaled delta velocity engine was used to adjust the space station’s orbit through a reboost of the altitude of the space station. The maneuver lasted 5 minutes, 1 second and raised the station’s altitude 1/10 of a mile at apogee and 5/10 of a mile at perigee.[13]