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Orbital Sciences Corporation

(Orbital)

Orbital Sciences was contracted under COTS in 2008.

Founded in 1982, Orbital is a world leader in space and launch systems. They were headquartered in Dulles, Virginia and had operations in Arizona, California, Maryland, and Virginia. Selected in 2006 for NASA's COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services), Orbital is under contract to provide eight resupply missions to the ISS between 2012 and 2015.

On 9 February 2015, Orbital Sciences Corporation merged with Alliance Techsystems to form Orbital ATK. Orbital ATK was then purchased by Northrop Grumman and on 6 June 2018 became Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.

Being developed for this service is an advanced maneuvering space vehicle called Cygnus™. The Cygnus is composed of a service module incorporating avionics, propulsion and power systems proven in Orbital's existing satellite products, and a pressurized cargo module based upon the previous Multi-Purpose Logistics Module originally developed by Thales Alenia Space for NASA. The first launch took place on 18 September 2013.

Cygnus concept drawing
An artists rendering of the Cygnus spacecraft
Courtesy of Orbital Sciences Corporation
(Click to enlarge)

A related but separate development is the Antares™ launch vehicle. Antares is a two stage vehicle, expandable to three stages, capable of launching multiple payloads to low earth orbit. Initially, launches will take place from the Wallops Flight Facility, but Antares will also be qualified to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base (California) or Cape Canaveral (Florida).

Antares at Wallops Island
Antares at the Virginia Wallops Flight Facility
Courtesy of Orbital Sciences Corporation
(Click to enlarge)

Note: Cygnus and Antares are registered trademarks of Orbital Sciences Corporation.

Craft
Launch Date
Launch Time
Initial Dock Date
Inital Dock Time
Final Undock Date
Final Undock Time
Reentry Date
Reentry Time
Station
Notes
Cygnus 1
18 September 2013
14:58:00
29 September 2013
12:44:00
22 October 2013
10:16:00
23 October 2013
18:15:00
ISS
Demo flight Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm. (Undock time approximation)
Orb-1
9 January 2014
18:07:00
12 January 2014
13:05:00
18 February 2014
10:15:00
19 February 2014
18:20:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Orb-2
13 July 2014
16:52:00
16 July 2014
12:53:00
15 August 2014
09:14:00
17 August 2014
13:11:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Orb-3
28 October 2014
21:22:40
30 November -0001
 
30 November -0001
 
28 October 2014
21:22:55
ISS
Vehicle exploded about 15 seconds after liftoff
OA-4
6 December 2015
21:44:47
9 December 2015
14:26:00
19 February 2016
10:38:00
20 February 2016
16:00:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
OA-6
22 March 2016
03:05:20
26 March 2016
14:52:00
14 June 2016
11:43:00
22 June 2016
13:05:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
OA-5
17 October 2016
23:45:36
23 October 2016
14:53:00
21 November 2016
13:22:00
27 November 2016
23:40:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm; Undock time actually release time
OA-7
18 April 2017
15:11:27
22 April 2017
12:39:00
4 June 2017
11:05:00
11 June 2017
17:08:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
OA-8
12 November 2017
12:19:51
14 November 2017
12:15:00
5 December 2017
17:52:00
18 December 2017
12:54:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
OA-9
18 May 2018
08:44:06
24 May 2018
12:13:00
15 July 2018
10:20:00
30 July 2018
09:17:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-10
17 November 2018
09:01:31
19 November 2018
12:31:00
8 February 2019
14:37:00
25 February 2019
09:05:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-11
17 April 2019
20:46:00
19 April 2019
11:31:00
6 August 2019
13:30:00
6 December 2019
15:28:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-12
2 November 2019
13:59:47
4 November 2019
11:21:00
31 January 2020
13:10:00
17 March 2020
23:00:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-13
15 February 2020
20:21:01
18 February 2020
11:16:00
11 May 2020
13:00:00
29 May 2020
19:30:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-14
3 October 2020
01:16:14
5 October 2020
12:01:00
6 January 2021
12:15:00
26 January 2021
20:23:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-15
20 February 2021
17:36:50
22 February 2021
12:16:00
29 June 2021
13:20:00
21 July 2021
01:30:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-16
10 August 2021
22:01:05
12 August 2021
13:42:00
20 November 2021
13:00:00
15 December 2021
06:25:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-17
14 February 2022
17:40:03
21 February 2022
12:02:00
28 June 2022
07:00:00
29 June 2022
06:55:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-18
7 November 2022
10:32:42
9 November 2022
13:05:00
21 April 2023
08:37:00
22 April 2023
03:12:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-19
2 August 2023
00:31:00
4 August 2023
12:28:00
22 December 2023
10:00:00
9 January 2024
18:22:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-20
30 January 2024
17:07:15
1 February 2024
12:14:00
12 July 2024
08:00:00
13 July 2024
15:00:00
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm
Cygnus NG-21
4 August 2024
15:02:23
6 August 2024
09:33:00
30 November -0001
 
 
 
ISS
Captured and berthed by ISS robot arm

Upcoming Flights
Name
Launch Date
Cygnus NG-22
February 2025
Cygnus NG-23
January 2026
Cygnus NG-24
2026

 


Page last modified: 20 August 2024 10:59:20.