Cygnus Departs Station After 93-Day Cargo Mission

The Cygnus space freighter is pictured in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm moments before its release completing a 93-day stay at the space station. Credit: NASA TV
The Cygnus space freighter is pictured in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm moments before its release completing a 93-day stay at the space station. Credit: NASA TV

At 10:10 a.m. EST, flight controllers on the ground sent commands to release the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft from the Canadarm2 robotic arm after earlier detaching Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the Unity module.

The Cygnus spacecraft successfully departed the International Space Station three months after arriving at the space station to deliver about 8,000 pounds of scientific experiments and supplies to the orbiting laboratory.

Prior to departure, the crew packed Cygnus with the Saffire V investigation and the SharkSat hosted payload to be conducted during an extended mission in orbit. On Jan. 26, Northrop Grumman flight controllers in Dulles, Virginia, will initiate Cygnus’ deorbit to perform a safe re-entry, burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.

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