page_title: Cygnus (spacecraft)
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Cygnus (spacecraft) / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Standing in front of Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus cargo carrier are (left to right) Bill Wrobel, Director, Wallops Flight Facility; Chris Scolese, Director, Goddard Space Flight Center; Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator; and Frank Culbertson, senior vice president for Human Spaceflight Systems, Orbital Sciences Corp. The Administrator was at the Wallops Flight Facility to receive a development update on the Cygnus which will be used to carry supplies to the International Space Station under NASA’s Cargo Resupply Services contract with Orbital. The first demonstration flight of the Cygnus is scheduled for the fourth quarter this year aboard Orbital’s Antares launch vehicle from Wallops.
context_page_description: The Cygnus spacecraft is an expendable American cargo spacecraft developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation and now manufactured and launched by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems as part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program. It is launched by Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket or ULA's Atlas V and is designed to transport supplies to the International Space Station following the retirement of the American Space Shuttle. Since August 2000, ISS resupply missions have been regularly flown by the Russian Progress spacecraft, as well as by the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, and the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. With the Cygnus spacecraft and the SpaceX Dragon, NASA seeks to increase its partnerships with domestic commercial aviation and aeronautics industry.
  Cygnus is the Latinized Greek word for swan and a northern constellation.
context_section_description: With Rocketplane Kistler unable to meet funding obligations for its K-1 launch vehicle under the terms of the COTS agreement, NASA decided on 18 October 2007 to terminate its contract with Rocketplane Kistler and re-award its contract after a competition. On 19 February 2008, the NASA announced that it had chosen Orbital Sciences as the new winner. On 23 December 2008, NASA awarded Orbital Sciences a $1.9 billion contract under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program. Under this contract, Orbital Sciences will deliver up to 20 tons of cargo to the ISS through 2016 in eight Cygnus spacecraft flights.
  By April 2010, Orbital had displayed a full-scale model of the Cygnus cargo delivery spacecraft at the National Space Symposium (NSS) in Colorado Springs, CO.
  Launched on an Antares (renamed from Taurus II) medium-class launch vehicle or Atlas V, the first Cygnus flight was originally planned to occur in December 2010.· The Cygnus demonstration mission was successfully launched on 18 September 2013. On 12 January 2014, the first scheduled Cygnus resupply mission arrived at the space station; the capsule carried Christmas presents and fresh fruit for the astronauts. Its arrival was delayed, first by the need to repair the station, and then by frigid weather at the launch site and solar flares that forced postponements.·
  With the December 2015 launch of Orb CRS-4 on Atlas V, the Enhanced version made its debut. While it was planned from the beginning to fly on the fifth mission, the Orb CRS-3 failure and subsequent move to Atlas V meant a delay. On the other hand, the lessons learned on packing and the extra capabilities of the Atlas allowed payload to be increased to 3,500 kg (7,700 lb).
caption: The NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (third from left) in front of the Cygnus spacecraft in May 2012.
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