Mission type ISS resupply Spacecraft type Enhanced Cygnus Rocket Antares 230 | Operator NASA Launch date December 2018 | |
Manufacturer Orbital ATK
Thales Alenia Space | ||
Cygnus CRS OA-11, also known as OrbitalATK CRS Flight 11, is the twelfth planned flight of the Orbital ATK' unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its eleventh flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. Orbital 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 System (COTS) program, then Orbital Sciences designed and built Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced maneuvering spacecraft, and a Pressurized Cargo Module which is provided by Orbital's industrial partner Thales Alenia Space.
Contents
History
The COTS demonstration mission was successfully conducted in September 2013, and Orbital commenced operational ISS cargo missions under the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) program with two missions in 2014. Regrettably, the third operational mission, Orb CRS-3, resulted was not successful due to spectacular Antares failure during launch. The company decided to discontinue the Antares 100 series and accelerate the introduction of a new propulsion. The Antares system was upgraded with newly built RD-181 first-stage engines to provide greater payload performance and increased reliability.
To aid the transition during return to flight the company contracted with United Launch Alliance for two Atlas V launches. The first, CRS OA-4 launched on December 6, 2015 and the second, CRS OA-6, on July 6, 2016. The increased payload of the Atlas V enabled the ISS to rebuild its consumable reserves. The first Antares 230 flight, CRS OA-5, is expected to launch on August 22, 2016. CRS OA-7 is expected on December 2017, CRS OA-8E on July 2018, CRS OA-9E on December 2017, CRS OA-10E on June 2018.
As of July 2016, it is not clear if this mission, known as OA-11, corresponds to an extension of the Commercial Resupply Services contract or is the first mission of the Commercial Resupply Services 2. What is known, though is that it is currently planned to be launched on December 2018 or early 2019.
Spacecraft
Production and integration of Cygnus spacecraft is performed in Dulles, VA. 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 and Houston. This will be the eighth flight of the Enhanced sized Cygnus PCM. The mission is expected to launch on December 2018 or later.
Manifest
Total weight of cargo: up to 3,200 kg (7,100 lb).
Other ORB projects
After OA-7 planned for December 30, 2016 and OA-8E for June 12, 2017, NASA has tentatively scheduled OA-9E later in 2017 and this OA-10E flight in 2018. The schedules in early 2017 are dynamic, due to the first manned commercial flights (SpaceX, Boeing) to ISS.