SpaceX will be launching CRS NG-20 which is the 20th planned flight of the Cygnus robotic resupply spacecraft (uncrewed) and its 17th flight to the International Space Station (ISS). It is planned to launch on 29 January 2024 SLC-40, Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is contracted to Northrop Grumman under the Commercial Resupply Services II (CRS-2) contract with NASA. The capsule is scheduled to be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This launch will be the maiden flight for the booster number B1072.1.
Patricia "Patty" Hilliard Robertson, An astronaut who died from injuries sustained in a plane crash before she could launch to the International Space Station (ISS) is being memorialized with the naming of Northrop Grumman's first cargo spacecraft to fly on a SpaceX rocket. Photo credit Northrop Grumman
"At Northrop Grumman, we're proud to support NASA and the astronauts aboard the International Space Station by delivering crew supplies, equipment and scientific experiments with our Cygnus spacecraft," said Doug Hurley, Northrop Grumman's director of business development and former NASA astronaut, in a video statement. "Before each mission, we name Cygnus after a trailblazer in the space community."
A medical doctor and space medicine fellow, Robertson was also a multi-engine rated flight instructor and avid aerobatic pilot with more than 1,500 hours of flight time. On May 22, 2001, two years after she had been chosen to become a NASA astronaut and completed her basic training, Robertson was in a small private-plane crash in Manvel, Texas. Two days later, she died as a result of her injuries.
"At just 38 years old at the time of her death, she had already achieved so much and her legacy in medicine, aviation and space exploration continues to inspire generations that have followed," said Hurley.
The NG-20 Cygnus will deliver food, supplies and equipment to the Expedition 70 crew, including the first surgical robot to operate on the ISS and an orbit re-entry platform that collects thermal protection systems data. Other investigations aboard the Robertson include a 3D cartilage cell culture that maintains healthy cartilage in a lower gravity environment and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Metal 3D printer, an autonomous semiconductor manufacturing platform.
NG-20 is the first launch of a Cygnus spacecraft after the exhaustion of the supply of Antares rockets, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, losing both the Russian rocket engine supplier and the Ukrainian booster stage supplier. The next two Cygnus missions will also use Falcon 9, Subsequent missions will use the next-generation Antares 300 series that does not depend on Ukrainian or Russian parts and is currently under development.
Orbital ATK (now 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 the 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.
To ensure critical cargo safely and reliably reaches the International Space Station (ISS), Northrop Grumman pioneered technologies for commercial resupply services and has been meeting NASA’s logistics needs for more than 10 years. So far, Cygnus has performed 18 successful missions, delivering more than 58,000 kg (130,000 pounds) of equipment, science experiments, and supplies to sustain the ISS astronauts under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS and CRS-2) contracts.
Cygnus consists of a Service Module and a Pressurized Cargo Module that carries crew supplies, equipment and scientific experiments to destinations in low-Earth orbit. The Service Module incorporates advanced avionics developed by Northrop Grumman and guidance and navigation components that allow for fully autonomous rendezvous operations. The avionics design fully meets rigorous and exhaustive NASA safety requirements imposed on human-rated space vehicles. The Pressurized Cargo Module is manufactured by Thales Alenia Space specifically for Cygnus. Its total cargo mass capacity is upto 5000 kg with a pressurized volume of 36 m3. It is also equipped with 2 Ultraflex Gallium Arsenide solar cell in fixed wing configuration with a total power output of 3.5kW.
SpaceX Falcon9 at LC-40. Photo credit SpaceX
This mission will be a part of many upcoming launches by SpaceX as they are aiming for an impressive 144 launches in 2024. This is an increase over 98 successful missions previous year.
In SpaceX's typical modus operandi, they'll attempt to recover the first stage which will come back to propulsively land at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1). As always, SpaceX will also be live streaming the mission but exclusively on X (formally known as Twitter).
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