Mission type ISS resupply Spacecraft type Enhanced Cygnus Rocket Atlas V 401 | Operator NASA Launch date 20 March 2017 | |
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Manufacturer Orbital Sciences
Thales Alenia Space | ||
Cygnus CRS OA-7, also known as Orbital Sciences CRS Flight 7, is the eighth planned flight of the Orbital ATK unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its seventh 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 will be upgraded with newly built RD-181 first stage engines to provide greater payload performance and increased reliability.
In the meantime, the company contracted with United Launch Alliance for two Atlas V launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida: CRS OA-4 flew in December 2015 and CRS OA-6 in March 2016. The first Cygnus mission on the new Antares 230 (CRS OA-5) was delayed to October 2016 and performed successfully. This particular mission, known as OA-7, will enable Orbital ATK to cover their initial CRS contracted payload obligation. It was switched to a third Atlas V rocket scheduled for March 2017, with Antares flights to resume with CRS OA-8E (the first of Orbital's extended contract with NASA) in July 2017.
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.
Spacecraft
This is the seventh of ten flights by Orbital ATK under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. This will be the fourth flight of the Enhanced sized Cygnus PCM.
Manifest
Total weight of cargo: 3,200 kg (7,100 lb) or 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) depending on launch vehicle.
Other ORB projects
The OA-8E flight has been scheduled for July 6, 2017, with OA-9E on November 17 and OA-10E in 2018.