NASA’s Commercial Launch Partner Takes First Steps to Replace Space Shuttles for Launching Supplies to the ISS

Now that NASA’s shuttle fleet has entered retirement, the nation’s space agency is moving on with it’s relationships with private commercial vendors for launch services to support the International Space Station. Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Cygnus spacecraft is one such endeavor.

This week the cargo module for the Cygnus space craft is scheduled to arrive at the NASA launch facility in Wallops Island Virginia. The Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) is expected to arrive at the facility on Wednesday the 24th at 4PM Eastern.

Once at the facility, the PCM will begin its process of integration with the Cygnus service module. This module includes the avionics, propulsion and power systems for the spacecraft. If all goes well with testing, NASA hopes to use this platform to deliver supplies to the ISS instead of the current method of relying on Russian and other international partners.

Once integration and testing is complete, by the early part of next year, the Cygnus spacecraft will be launched atop an Orbital Taurus II launch vehicle from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s pad 0A at Wallops Island.