Cygnus CRS OA-7

Cygnus CRS OA-7
Mission type ISS resupply
Operator NASA
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type Enhanced Cygnus[1][2]
Manufacturer Orbital Sciences
Thales Alenia Space
Start of mission
Launch date March 2017[3]
Rocket Atlas V 401[3]
Launch site Caps Canaveral SLC-41
Contractor United Launch Alliance
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Inclination 51.6 degrees
Epoch Planned
Berthing at ISS
Berthing port Harmony nadir or Unity nadir


NASA OA-7 mission patch

Commercial Resupply Services
← Cygnus CRS OA-5 Cygnus CRS OA-8E →

Cygnus CRS OA-7, also known as Orbital Sciences CRS Flight 7, is the eighth planned flight of the Orbital ATK unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its seventh flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.[3][4] Orbital 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 System (COTS) program, then Orbital Sciences designed and built Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced maneuvering spacecraft, and a Pressurized Cargo Module which is provided by Orbital's industrial partner Thales Alenia Space.[5]

History

The COTS demonstration mission was successfully conducted in September 2013, and Orbital commenced operational ISS cargo missions under the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) program with two missions in 2014. Regrettably, the third operational mission, Orb CRS-3, resulted was not successful due to spectacular Antares failure during launch. The company decided to discontinue the Antares 100 series and accelerate the introduction of a new propulsion. The Antares system will be upgraded with newly built RD-181 first stage engines to provide greater payload performance and increased reliability.[6]

In the meantime, the company contracted with United Launch Alliance for two Atlas V launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida: CRS OA-4 flew in December 2015 and CRS OA-6 in March 2016.[7] The first Cygnus mission on the new Antares 230 (CRS OA-5) was delayed to October 2016 and performed successfully. This particular mission, known as OA-7, will enable Orbital ATK to cover their initial CRS contracted payload obligation.[7] It was switched to a third Atlas V rocket scheduled for March 2017,[3] with Antares flights to resume with CRS OA-8E (the first of Orbital's extended contract with NASA) in July 2017.

Production and integration of Cygnus spacecraft is performed in Dulles, VA. 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 and Houston.[5]

Spacecraft

Main article: Cygnus (spacecraft)

This is the seventh of ten flights by Orbital ATK under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. This will be the fourth flight of the Enhanced sized Cygnus PCM.[7] The mission is expected to launch during the first quarter of 2017 due to delay in the launch of CRS OA-5.[3][8]

Manifest

Total weight of cargo: 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) or 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) depending on launch vehicle.[2]

Other ORB projects

The OA-8E flight has tentatively been scheduled for June 12, 2017, with OA-9E later that year and OA-10E in 2018.[7] The schedules in early 2017 are dynamic, due to the first manned commercial flights (SpaceX, Boeing) to ISS.[4][9]

References

  1. ↑ Bergin, Chris (February 22, 2012). "Space industry giants Orbital upbeat ahead of Antares debut". NasaSpaceflight (not affiliated with NASA). Retrieved March 29, 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Orbital ATK Team on Track for Fall 2015 Cygnus Mission and Antares Return to Flight in 2016". Orbital ATK. August 12, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Clark, Stephen (3 November 2016). "Launch Schedule". Spaceflight Now. spaceflightnow.com. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  4. 1 2 "International Space Station Flight Schedule". Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. May 15, 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Cygnus Fact Sheet" (PDF). Orbital ATK. March 24, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 26, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Orbital ATK make progress toward Return To Flight of Antares rocket". NASASpaceflight.com. August 14, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2015. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  7. 1 2 3 4 Leone, Dan (August 17, 2015). "NASA Orders Two More ISS Cargo Missions From Orbital ATK". SpaceNews.com. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  8. ↑ Scimemi, Sam (July 2015). "International Space Station Status" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
  9. ↑ Krebs, Gunter Dirk (August 18, 2015). "Cygnus-PCM (enhanced)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
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