Cygnus NG-21
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NG-21 is the twenty-first flight of the Cygnus, an expendable American cargo spacecraft used for International Space Station (ISS) logistics missions, that launched on 4 August 2024. It is operated by Northrop Grumman under a Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. The spacecraft is an Enhanced Cygnus, named the S.S. Francis R. "Dick" Scobee in honor of the NASA astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
 S.S Francis R. "Dick" Scobee (NG-21) spacecraft is seen being encapsulated inside the SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairing as it prepares to launch | |
| Mission type | ISS logistics |
|---|---|
| Operator | Northrop Grumman |
| COSPAR ID | 2024-139A |
| SATCAT no. | 60378 |
| Mission duration | 43 days, 7 hours, 10 minutes (in progress) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | S.S. Francis R. "Dick" Scobee |
| Spacecraft type | Enhanced Cygnus |
| Manufacturer | Northrop Grumman Thales Alena |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 4 August 2024, 15:02:00 UTC (11:02 am EDT) |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1080.10) |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, SLC-40 |
| Contractor | SpaceX |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Deorbited |
| Decay date | January 2025 (planned) |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Inclination | 51.66° |
| Berthing with ISS | |
| Berthing port | Unity nadir |
| RMS capture | 6 August 2024, 07:10 UTC (planned) |
| Berthing date | 6 August 2024, 07:10 UTC (planned) |
| Payload | |
| Cargo | |
| Mass | 3,857 kg (8,503 lb) |
| Pressurised | 3,843 kg (8,472 lb) |
| Unpressurised | 14 kg (31 lb) |
 Cygnus NG-21 Patch Commercial Resupply Services Cygnus flights | |
NG-21 is the second launch of a Cygnus spacecraft after Northrop Grumman exhausted the supply of its Antares 230+ rocket. The Antares used a Russian-built engine and Ukrainian-built first stage, and production ceased after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Northrop Grumman expects its next-generation Antares 300 rocket that does not depend on Ukrainian or Russian parts to be ready to fly NG-23. As an interim solution, Northrop Grumman contracted with its CRS competitor SpaceX to launch NG-20, 21 and 22 using its Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket.
History
changeMain article: Cygnus (spacecraft)
Cygnus was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation, partially funded by NASA under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. To create Cygnus, Orbital paired the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, built by Thales Alenia Space and previously used by the Space Shuttle for ISS logistics, with a service module based on Orbital's GEOStar, a satellite bus. The larger Enhanced Cygnus was introduced in 2015. Orbital Sciences was renamed Orbital ATK in 2015 and Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital in 2018 and has continued to operate Cygnus missions.
Cygnus NG-21 is the tenth Cygnus mission under the Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract.
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.
The NG-21 spacecraft was named the S.S. Francis R. "Dick" Scobee in honor of the NASA astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. This will be the sixteenth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM.