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Private spacecraft reached the ISS

03.10.2013

Private astronautics once again pleases with its achievements. The new private transport spacecraft Cygnus has docked with the ISS, and its unloading has begun.
Docking developed by Orbital Sciences Corp. the ship took place on September 29, and now all the details of this mission are known. First of all, it is now clear that private companies can take over the supply of orbital stations, theoretically including the distant settlements planned by NASA, located beyond the orbit of the moon.

ISS crew member Luca Parmitano docked the Cygnus unmanned cargo ship to the orbital laboratory using the Canadarm 2 robotic arm. This docking method has almost become standard for private traders who do not yet have their own reliable automatic docking systems.

Cygnus launched on September 18 and reached the ISS 4 days later (the ship was waiting for Soyuz with three cosmonauts to dock with the ISS). Cygnus delivered 590kg of food, clothing and special treats to the ISS for the astronauts who helped Orbital Sciences navigate their spacecraft. On Monday, the unloading of the transport ship began.

The flight was generally successful, but there were also problems: the controllers found a discrepancy in the navigation data between the instruments of the ISS and the spacecraft. This turned out to be a software error that was eliminated from Earth.

The successful docking of a private spacecraft with the ISS is the second after a similar mission by SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. Now NASA has two companies capable of delivering a significant payload into orbit. Starting from the fall of 2013, Orbital Sciences plans to deliver about 8 tons of cargo to the ISS with the help of Cygnus in 20 missions.

Unlike the Dragon, the Cygnus is not designed to de-orbit payloads. Like the Russian Progress, the Orbital Sciences ship burns up when it enters the planet's atmosphere. After unloading, debris will be transferred to Cygnus, on October 22 the ship will undock and begin its descent into the atmosphere. As experts joke, Cygnus, along with Russian "Progress", Japanese "HTV" and European ATV are the most expensive self-destructing trash cans in the world.

Cygnus consists of a service module and a pressurized transport module with a volume of 20-27 cubic meters. The spacecraft is capable of delivering food, water, fuel, spare parts and other cargo weighing 2-2,7 tons necessary for the operation of the ISS to low-Earth orbit. The spacecraft is powered by solar panels with a total power of 3,5 kW; Cygnus is launched into orbit by the Orbital Sciences Antares launch vehicle, capable of delivering up to 5000 kg of payload to low Earth orbit.

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