Northrop Grumman Successfully Launches NASA Mission

Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket launched the company’s Cygnus spacecraft carrying about 7,600 pounds of cargo for the International Space Station on April 17, 2019. Photo: Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman successfully launched its Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft yesterday at 4:46 p.m. EDT from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A on Wallops Island, Virginia, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. The launch marks Northrop Grumman’s 11th cargo mission carrying supplies to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA.

Following the release of Cygnus, Antares performed another new capability, deploying secondary satellites for science, technology, engineering and mathematics outreach programs. This included the NASA-sponsored 3U CubeSat called Student Aerothermal Spectrometer Satellite of Illinois and Indiana CubeSat (SASSI2) and 60 ThinSats sponsored by Virginia Space Flight Authority. Additionally, the spacecraft carried Orbital Micro Systems‘ first satellite in its Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS) constellation — the IOD-1.

“This launch marks a new innovative capability for Antares and Cygnus, which enables a 24-hour late load of critical cargo,” said Scott Lehr, vice president and general manager, flight systems, Northrop Grumman. “We are proud to partner with NASA to provide more commercial capabilities supporting their missions. Congratulations to the entire team on an excellent launch.”