Washington, Sept 30 (ANI): NASA partner Orbital Sciences Corp. completed its first flight to the International Space Station, sending a cargo resupply craft.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) used a robotic arm to capture and attach a Cygnus cargo resupply spacecraft on Sunday, marking several spaceflight firsts for NASA and its partner, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va.
The station's Expedition 37 crew reported the spacecraft-loaded with about 1,300 pounds (589 kilograms) of cargo-berthed at 8:44 a.m. EDT, following an 11-day journey to the orbiting laboratory.
Orbital's Cygnus was launched on the company's Antares rocket on Sept. 18 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
This was the first flight of a spacecraft to the space station from the state.
The maiden flight of Cygnus included a number of systems tests prior to rendezvous with the station.
The cargo includes student experiments, food and clothing, which will be unloaded by the station crew following hatch opening Monday.
Future Cygnus flights will ensure a robust national capability to deliver critical science research to orbit, significantly increasing NASA's ability to conduct new science investigations to the only laboratory in microgravity. (ANI)
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