Cygnus Orb-1

Cygnus CRS Orb-1

Cygnus arriving at the ISS, 12 January 2014
Mission type	ISS resupply
Operator	Orbital Sciences
COSPAR ID	2014-003A
SATCAT no.	39502
Mission duration	41 days, 12 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Cygnus 2
Spacecraft type	Standard Cygnus
Manufacturer	Orbital Sciences Thales Alenia Space
Payload mass	1,261 kg (2,780 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	9 January 2014, 18:07:05 (2014-01-09UTC18:07:05) UTC
Rocket	Antares 120
Launch site	MARS LP-0A
Contractor	Orbital Sciences
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited
Decay date	19 February 2014, 18:20 (2014-02-19UTC18:21) UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	406 km (252 mi)
Apogee altitude	415 km (258 mi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Period	92.77 minutes
Epoch	11 January 2014
Berthing at International Space Station
Berthing port	Harmony nadir
RMS capture	12 January 2014, 11:08 UTC
Berthing date	12 January 2014, 13:05 UTC
Unberthing date	18 February 2014, 10:25 UTC
RMS release	18 February 2014, 11:41 UTC
Time berthed	36 days, 21 hours, 20 minutes
NASA Orb-1 mission patch Commercial Resupply Services

Cygnus CRS Orb-1, also known as Orbital-1, was the second flight of the Orbital Sciences Cygnus unmanned resupply spacecraft, its second flight to the International Space Station and the third launch of the company's Antares launch vehicle.

Spacecraft

Main article: Cygnus (spacecraft)

Orb-1 was the first of eight contracted flights by Orbital Sciences under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program. This was the maiden flight of the Castor 30B second stage.

Orbital Sciences continued its naming of Cygnus spacecraft in tribute to former astronauts. This vehicle was named the C. Gordon Fullerton for the NASA astronaut who died on 21 August 2013.

Launch and early operations

Antares and Cygnus, 6 January 2014

The launch of Orb-1 was scheduled for November 2013, but a series of delays pushed the date to 20 December. The Antares launch vehicle rolled out from the Wallops Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) on the morning of 17 December, and was later erected at Launch Pad 0A. Later that day, due to the need for a series of spacewalks to fix a faulty coolant system on the space station, NASA directed Orbital to stand down the Antares rocket. Antares was rolled back to the HIF and time-sensitive cargo removed. The launch date was rescheduled for no earlier than 13 January 2014, but was later moved forward to 7 January after a scheduling conflict at Wallops was resolved. The launch was delayed one day due to cold temperatures at the launch site.

NASA Wallops and Orbital Sciences announced the launch attempt on 8 January 2014 was scrubbed due to "an unusually high level of space radiation that exceeded by a considerable margin the constraints imposed on the mission to ensure the rocket's electronic systems are not impacted by a harsh radiation environment." Orbital later revised this, stating that a more extensive review of the radiation environment found it to be "within acceptable limits" of the Antares program, and that a launch would be attempted on 9 January.

The Orb-1 mission successfully launched on 9 January 2014 at 18:07:05 UTC from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Launch Pad 0A. Solar array deployment occurred shortly after arriving in orbit. The Cygnus spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station early on 12 January.

The launch was expected to be viewable from South Carolina through Massachusetts and as far west as West Virginia. As with its last couple of launches out of Wallops, Orbital Sciences released viewing information for the Eastern U.S., including maps indicating launch vehicle maximum elevation above horizon and time of first sighting after launch for the various viewing locations.

Attempt	Planned	Result	Turnaround	Reason	Decision point	Weather go (%)	Notes
1	20 Dec 2013, 12:00:00 pm	delayed	—	technical	17 Dec 2013, 12:00 pm		ISS coolant loop repair spacewalks forced delay
2	7 Jan 2014, 1:55:00 pm	delayed	18 days 1 hour 55 minutes	weather	3 Jan 2014, 12:00 pm		Delayed due to extreme cold temperatures
3	8 Jan 2014, 1:32:00 pm	scrubbed	0 days 23 hours 37 minutes	space weather	8 Jan 2014, 8:00 am	95%	Scrubbed for concerns about avionics health due to recent solar flux activity
4	9 Jan 2014, 1:07:05 pm	success	0 days 23 hours 35 minutes				Successful launch

Payload

Cygnus was filled with 1,261 kg (2,780 lb) of supplies for the ISS, including science experiments and hardware to expand the research capability of the station, crew provisions and spare parts. This included 12 experiments flying as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, selected from 1,466 entrants and involving 7,200 North American students. Types of cargo include:

• Crew supplies: 424 kg (935 lb)
• Hardware: 333 kg (734 lb)
• Science and research: 434 kg (957 lb)
• Computer supplies: 48 kg (106 lb)
• Spacewalk tools: 22 kg (48 lb)

Some of the major experiments focus on:

• NASA's Launch Services Program SPHERES-Slosh Experiment for the SPHERES testbed
• Vaccines, antibiotic effectiveness, and drug resistance in space
• Physics research which may lead to better products on Earth
• Fire and liquid behavior in space
• Ant behavior in space

End of mission

Canadarm2 unberthed the Cygnus spacecraft from the nadir port of the Harmony module on 18 February 2014 at 10:25 UTC. The spacecraft was then maneuvered to a position below the station, where it was released from the RMS at 11:41 UTC. It then performed a series of separation maneuvers to move it away from the station. The spacecraft reentered the atmosphere and burned up on 19 February 2014 over the southern Pacific Ocean, disposing of approximately 1,470 kilograms (3,250 lb) of trash.

Gallery

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  Cygnus Orb-1 mated to Antares rocket, 10 December 2013
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  The Antares rocket rolls to the launch pad, 17 December 2013
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External links

• CRS Orb-1 mission page at Orbital.com
• CRS Orb-1 mission page at Spaceflight Now