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More than two months after delivering several tons of supplies and scientific experiments to the International Space Station, Northrop Grumman’s #cygnus cargo spacecraft, the SS Alan Bean, will depart the orbiting laboratory on Friday, Jan. 31.
Live coverage of the spacecraft’s release will air on #nasa Television and the agency’s website beginning at 9:15 a.m. EST, with release scheduled for 9:35 a.m.
Cygnus will demonstrate a new release position for departure operations and will incorporate the first ground-controlled release. The new orientation allows for easier drift away from the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. With Expedition 61 Flight Engineers Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir of #nasa providing backup support, ground controllers will send commands to the Canadarm2 robotic arm to release the unpiloted cargo spacecraft after ground controllers remotely unbolt the craft from the Earth-facing port of the Unity module and maneuver it into release position.
Within 24 hours of its release, #cygnus will begin its secondary mission – deploying a series of payloads – before Northrop Grumman flight controllers in Dulles, Virginia, initiate its deorbit and it executes a safe, destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere at the end of February.
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