NG-18 | |||||||||||
Image Upright: | Please do not resize from the default size without a valid reason --> | ||||||||||
Mission Type: | ISS logistics | ||||||||||
Operator: | Northrop Grumman | ||||||||||
Website: | Cygnus NG-18 | ||||||||||
Spacecraft: | S.S. Sally Ride | ||||||||||
Spacecraft Type: | Enhanced Cygnus | ||||||||||
Launch Date: | UTC (5:32:42amEST)[1] [2] | ||||||||||
Launch Rocket: | Antares 230+ | ||||||||||
Launch Site: | MARS, Pad 0A | ||||||||||
Disposal Type: | Deorbited | ||||||||||
Decay Date: | UTC | ||||||||||
Orbit Reference: | Geocentric orbit | ||||||||||
Orbit Regime: | Low Earth orbit | ||||||||||
Orbit Inclination: | 51.66° | ||||||||||
Apsis: | gee | ||||||||||
Docking: |
| ||||||||||
Insignia: | Cygnus NG-18 Patch.png | ||||||||||
Insignia Upright: | 0.6 | ||||||||||
Insignia Caption: | NASA mission patch | ||||||||||
Programme: | Commercial Resupply Services | ||||||||||
Previous Mission: | SpaceX CRS-25 | ||||||||||
Next Mission: | SpaceX CRS-26 | ||||||||||
Programme2: | Cygnus flights | ||||||||||
Previous Mission2: | NG-17 | ||||||||||
Next Mission2: | NG-19 |
NG-18 was the eighteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its seventeenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-2) contract with NASA. The mission successfully launched on 7 November 2022 at 10:32:42UTC.[1] [2] This was the seventh launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.
Orbital ATK (now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems) and NASA jointly developed a new space transportation system to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS). Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, Orbital ATK designed, acquired, built, and assembled these components: Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced spacecraft using a Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) provided by industrial partner Thales Alenia Space and a Service Module based on the Orbital GEOStar satellite bus.
Cygnus NG-18 was the seventh Cygnus mission under the Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract. Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems confirmed on 23 February 2021 that Thales Alenia Space of Turin, Italy, will fabricate two additional Pressurized Cargo Modules (PCMs) for a pair of forthcoming Commercial Resupply Services-2 missions. Current plans are for the two additional Cygnus spacecraft to be designated NG-18 and NG-19.
Production and integration of Cygnus spacecraft are performed in Dulles, Virginia. The Cygnus service module is mated with the pressurized cargo module at the launch site, and mission operations are conducted from control centers in Dulles, Virginia and Houston, Texas.
See main article: Cygnus (spacecraft).
This was the thirteenth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM.
The vehicle was named the S.S. Sally Ride, after the first American woman in space.[4]
NG-18 was originally scheduled to launch on 6 November 2022. However, a fire alarm resulted in an evacuation of Northrop Grumman's control center, and the flight was postponed to the next day.[5]
The mission lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on 7 November 2022. About six hours into the flight, NASA announced that one of the two solar arrays failed to deploy. The deploy failure was attributed to acoustic blanket debris being lodged into solar-array mechanisms during a stage separation event.[6]
Northrop Grumman reported that the spacecraft would still be able to reach the ISS. After assessing the situation, NASA determined a rendezvous was safe.[7] The vehicle reached the ISS on November 9.[8]
The Cygnus spacecraft is loaded with of research, hardware, and crew supplies.
The new experiments arriving at the orbiting laboratory will inspire future scientists and explorers, and provide valuable insight for researchers.
NASA Glenn Research Center studies: [9]