Antares Blasts Off Overnight from Virginia with Tons of Science Cargo for International Space Station

The Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with Cygnus NG-10 resupply spacecraft onboard, is seen above the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC, on Nov. 17, 2018. The rocket launched from Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia that morning. Northrop Grumman's 10th contracted cargo resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,400 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.   Credit: NASA

Ken Kremer --SpaceUpClose.com  & RocketSTEM --17 November 2018

NASA WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY, VA –The Northrop Grumman Antares commercial  rocket put on a spectacular sky show with the middle-of-the-night blastoff early Saturday, November 17 from Virginia’s Eastern Shore on a cargo resupply mission bound for the International Space Station (ISS) carrying nearly 4 tons of science and supplies for the multinational crew - including the 1^st ever ‘recycling refabricator’.  

Exceptionally clear skies made for a stunningly beautiful soar to orbit visible for hundreds of miles around – including Washington, D.C. – as seen in the long duration streak shot above. 

The flawless liftoff of Northrop Grumman’s upgraded Antares 230 configuration rocket carrying the Cygnus NG-10 supply ship took place right at the opening of the launch window at 4:01 a.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018 from seaside pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility at the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia.  

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft launches on an Antares rocket at 4:01 a.m. EST Nov. 17, 2018, from the Virginia Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman's 10th contracted cargo resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,400 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.  Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky

“The spacecraft is extremely healthy and it’s ready to begin its trek to the ISS,” said Frank DeMauro, Northrop Grumman VP advanced programs, during the post-launch briefing.

And the magnificent launch finally came after a 48 hour delay due to drenching rainstorms and heavy winds inundating NASA’s Virginia launch base.

Oceanside view of Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with Cygnus NG-10 cargo freighter aboard bound for the International Space Station, is seen on Pad-0A, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Poor weather forced launch postponement to Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

Over 1 ton of science and research is on board from delivery to the Space Station. In  addition to the ‘Refabricator’ which will recycle waste plastic bags into a 3D filament to make tools and hardware,  other experiments will try to growing large crystals of an important protein (LRRK2) related to the development of Parkinson’s disease for the Michael J. Fox Foundation, examine the growth of crystals involved in cement solidification, situational awareness of the astronauts perception of motion, body position and distance to objects changes in space, the  lab-on-a-chip (fully automated, multifunctional cell culture platform) investigation looking at skeletal muscle cells, and a dust zapping  experiment related to the formation of the early solar system.

Deployment of the life giving UltraFlex solar arrays that charge the ships batteries began about 90 minutes after launch at 5:30 a.m. 

The unfurling process took about 30 minutes and was confirmed complete by NASA at about 6 a.m.  The pair of cymbal-shaped UltraFlex arrays are 12.1 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter. 

Cygnus NG-10 marks the company’s 10^th contracted cargo delivery flight for NASA.  

Due to persistent drenching downpours Northrop Grumman Antares rocket on the Cygnus NG-10 cargo mission had to stay another two days atop the On-Ramp to the

International Space Station at pad 0A on NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launch now reset to Nov. 17 at 4:01 a.m. EST. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

The Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo freighter now begins a carefully choreographed two day orbital chase with a series of thruster firings setting up arrival at the station on Monday, Nov. 19.

Two of the Expedition 57 station astronauts Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA and Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) will use the space station’s 57.7 foot (19.9 m)  long Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple Cygnus about 5:20 a.m. Monday, Nov. 19

NASA plans live coverage of the rendezvous, arrival, capture and berthing of Cygnus at the stations Earth-facing port on Unity - orbiting some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.  

Installation coverage will begin at 4 a.m. on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Prelaunch view of Northrop Grumman Antares rocket and Cygnus NG-10 space station cargo delivery ship sitting atop the ramp on Pad-0A, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launched Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

The two stage 139.4 foot (42.5 m) long Antares rocket was rolled out to pad OA around midnight Tuesday from the NASA Wallops Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) in a downpour of rain for a 1 mile (1.6 km) trip to the pad and raised erect around 5  a.m. Nov. 13 EST. 

Ponds surround Northrop Grumman Antares rocket after days of rain, with Cygnus NG-10 cargo freighter aboard bound for the International Space Station, is seen on Pad-0A, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Poor weather forced launch postponement to Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

“The move was completed in a driving rain storm,” said Frank DeMauro, Northrop Grumman VP for Human Spaceflight at the prelaunch briefing.  

The trouble free countdown started at T Minus 6 hours 15 minutes before liftoff.  

Fueling began at T Minus 1.5 hours with liquid oxygen (LOX) and RP-1 propellants.

14 story tall commercial expendable Antares launch vehicle is launching in the upgraded and more powerful re-engined 230 configuration rocket compared to the original version. 

The first stage is powered by two newly built Russian-built NPO Energomash RD-181 engines with independent thrust vectoring and fires for 3 minutes and 35 seconds before separating from the upper stage.  They are test fired by Energomash in Russia and shipped to Wallops.

Two new Russian-built NPO Energomash RD-181 engines at the base of Northrop Grumman Antares rocket first stage that will power the NG-11 cargo resupply mission to the ISS scheduled in spring 2019 undergo processing inside the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore.  They are fueled by LOX and RP-1 kerosene.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

They produce about 860,000 pounds of thrust, roughly 100,000 more thrust than the original Antares 100 configuration. They are throttled down at Max Q to maintain core integrity. 

The second stage comprises the Castor 30XL solid rocket motor producing approximately107,000 pounds of thrust.  It burns for about 156 seconds.

Antares Castor 30XL solid fueled second stage mounted atop/inside Northrop Grumman first stage core for Cygnus NG-10 cargo ship launch to the ISS on Nov. 17, 2018 backdropped by payload fairing at right. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com 

The two stage Antares measures 139 feet (42.5 m) tall and 13 feet (3.9 m) in diameter. 

It has a payload capacity of 18,000 pounds (8,000 kg) to low Earth orbit (LEO). 

Cygnus is loaded with cargo 3,350 kg (7,385 lb.) of cargo comprising science experiments, research gear, food, water, spare parts, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to support the Expedition 57 and 58 crews and over 250 new and ongoing research investigations.

The Cygnus NG-10 cargo freighter, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation, was christened the ‘S.S. John Young’ - in honor of astronaut John Young.  He was NASA’s longest serving astronaut and passed away earlier this year in January at age 87.

The Northrop Grumman built Cygnus NG-10 cargo spacecraft is prepped inside clean room High Bay facility at NASA Wallops and named in honor NASA astronaut and Apollo 16 moonwalker John Young on Oct. 24, 2018.  Blastoff on Antares rocket is slated for Nov. 17, 2018 from pad 0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia bound for the International Space Station.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

Young was selected for NASA’s second astronaut class and flew during the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. He walked on the Moon during Apollo 16 in 1972 and commanded the first space shuttle mission in 1981.

The S.S. John Young cargo resupply freighter is jam packed and will deliver nearly 4 tons of research experiments and station hardware and crew supplies to the trio of astronauts and cosmonauts living aboard the orbiting science outpost after blastoff atop the 2 stage Antares 230 version rocket.

NG-10 counts as Northrop Grumman’s 10^th station resupply cargo mission for NASA. 

Here’s a breakdown of the manifest aboard Cygnus NG-10 which includes:   

Crew Supplies: 2,515.5 lbs. / 1,141 kg

Science Investigations: 2,301.6 lbs. / 1,044 kg

Spacewalk Equipment: 68.3 lbs. / 31 kg

Vehicle Hardware: 2,076.8 lbs. / 942 kg

Computer Resources: 253.5 lbs. / 115 kg

Total Cargo: 7,385.5 lbs. / 3,350 kg

Total Pressurized Cargo with Packaging: 7,215.8 lbs. / 3,273 kg

Unpressurized Cargo (NanoRacks Deployer): 169.8 lbs. / 77 kg 

Dr. Allison Porter, flight missions manager at Tethers Unlimited Inc., with a mock-up of the Refabricator, a combination 3D printer and recycler, headed to the International Space Station aboard NG-10. In Porter’s hand is a roll of 3D printer filament shown during the Nov. 13, 2018 science briefing at NASA Wallops. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

Watch this NASA video highlighting some of the science including the ‘refabricator’:

Video Caption: A "Refabricator" for sustainable ♻ in-space manufacturing and a multifunctional cell culture platform or "lab-on-a-chip" are just some of the science investigations heading to the International Space Station. They're on board Northrop Grumman's Cygnus resupply flight 10 (CRS-10), launching in mid-November on the Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. More: https://go.nasa.gov/2SVf82d. Credit: NASA

Here’s a summary of several of the science and research experiments on board from NASA:

Recycling and Fabrication in Space

The Refabricator is the first-ever 3D printer and recycler integrated into one user-friendly machine. Once it’s installed in the space station, it will demonstrate recycling of waste plastic and previously 3D printed parts already on-board into high-quality filament (i.e. 3D printer ‘ink’). This recycled filament will then be fed into the printer to make new tools and parts on-demand in space. This technology could enable closed-loop, sustainable fabrication, repair and recycling on long-duration space missions, and greatly reduce the need to continually launch large supplies of new material and parts for repairs and maintenance.

The demonstration, which NASA’s Space Technology Mission and Human Exploration and Operations Directorates co-sponsored, is considered a key enabling technology for in-space manufacturing. NASA awarded a Small Business Innovation Research contract valued to Tethers Unlimited Inc. to build the recycling system.

Formation of the Early Solar System

The Experimental Chondrule Formation at the International Space Station (EXCISS) investigation will explore how planets, moons and other objects in space formed by simulating the high-energy, low-gravity conditions that were present during formation of the early solar system. Scientists plan to zap a specially formulated dust with an electrical current, and then study the shape and texture of the resulting pellets.

Understanding Parkinson’s Disease

The Crystallization of LRRK2 Under Microgravity Conditions-2 (PCG-16) investigation grows large crystals of an important protein, leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), in microgravity for analysis back on Earth. This protein is implicated in development of Parkinson’s disease, and improving our knowledge of its structure may help scientists better understand the pathology of the disease and develop therapies to treat it. LRRK2 crystals grown in gravity are too small and too compact to study, making microgravity an essential part of this research. This investigation is sponsored by the U.S. National Laboratory on the space station, which Congress designated in 2005 to maximize its use for improving quality of life on Earth.

UpClose view of Cygnus NG-10 cargo freighter atop Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, loaded with 3.7 tons of science and supplies for delivery to the International Space Station, is seen on Pad-0A, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Launched Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/SpaceUpClose.com

Cygnus NG-10 counts as NASA’s 5 cargo resupply mission of 2018 and one more is also planned by SpaceX on NET Dec. 4, said Joel Montalbano, ISS Program deputy manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, at the prelaunch media briefing at NASA Wallops. 

Cygnus NG-10 will remain at the station for approximately 3 months until February 2019. 

Then it will unberth and depart and deploy a series of cubesats and orbits above and below the ISS altitude at a safe distance from the outpost.

Then it be commanded to a destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, disposing of several thousand pounds of trash.

This is the seventh flight of an enhanced Cygnus spacecraft, and the fourth using Northrop Grumman's upgraded Antares 230 launch vehicle featuring new RD-181 engines that provide increased performance and flexibility.

Cygnus will deliver vital equipment, supplies and scientific equipment to the space station as part of Northrop Grumman’s Commercial Resupply Services-1 (CRS-1) contract with NASA – totaling 11 cargo flights.

“NG-10 is the next to last followed by NG-11 next spring under the CRS-1 contract,” said Northrop Grumman’s Kurt Eberly. 

“Northrop Grumman also has been awarded the follow-on CRS-2 contract from NASA comprising at least 6 more cargo missions.”

To date, Cygnus spacecraft have delivered more than 23,000 kilograms of cargo to the International Space Station, and removed 17,000 kilograms of disposable cargo. 

The prior Cygnus cargo freighter was successfully launched by an Antares 230 vehicle from Wallops on May 21, 2018 on the Orbital ATK OA-9 resupply mission for NASA before the company merged with Northrop Grumman. 

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area.

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