[meteorite-list] Departure of U.S. Cargo Ship to Air on NASA Television

[Ron Baalke]

August 12, 2014
     
Departure of U.S. Cargo Ship to Air on NASA Television

After delivering almost three tons of supplies and scientific experiments to 
the crew of the International Space Station, Orbital Sciences Corporation's 
Cygnus cargo spacecraft, the SS Janice Voss, is scheduled to leave the 
station Friday, Aug. 15. NASA Television will provide live coverage of 
departure activities beginning at 6:15 a.m. EDT.

Ground controllers in the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space 
Center in Houston will detach Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the 
Harmony module and maneuver it into release position. With the assistance of 
NASA Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman, Expedition 40 Flight Engineer Alexander 
Gerst of the European Space Agency then will use the station's Canadarm2 
robotic arm, operated from the station's cupola robotics workstation, to 
release Cygnus.

Once the spacecraft is a safe distance from the station, its engines will 
fire twice Sunday, Aug. 17, pushing it into Earth's atmosphere where it will 
burn up over the Pacific Ocean. Station crew members may have an opportunity 
to photograph Cygnus' fiery reentry back to Earth in order to gather 
engineering data that could be applied to the entry path of the European 
Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ship in January 2015. The 
deorbit burn and reentry of Cygnus will not be broadcast on NASA TV.

Cygnus was launched on an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket from NASA's 
Wallop's Flight Facility in Virginia July 12 on the company's second 
commercial resupply mission to the station, arriving at the orbiting 
laboratory July 16.

For more information about the spacecraft's mission and the International 
Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station 

For video b-roll and media resources on the International Space Station, 
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/stationnews 

-end-

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck at nasa.gov