Cygnus CRS OA-5

Cygnus CRS OA-5

Mission type	ISS resupply
Operator	NASA
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Enhanced Cygnus
Manufacturer	Orbital ATK Thales Alenia Space
Start of mission
Launch date	July 6, 2016
Rocket	Antares 230
Launch site	MARS LP-0A
Contractor	Orbital ATK
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Epoch	Planned
Berthing at ISS
Berthing port	Unity nadir
Error creating thumbnail: File with dimensions greater than 25 MP Commercial Resupply Services ← Cygnus CRS OA-6 Cygnus CRS OA-7 →

Cygnus CRS OA-5, also known as Orbital Sciences CRS Flight 5, is the seventh planned flight of the Orbital Sciences' unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its sixth 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, Orbital 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.

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 mean time, the company has contracted with United Launch Alliance for an Atlas V launch of Orb OA-4 in late 2015 from Cape Canaveral, FL, with a second Atlas V Cygnus launch in 2016. The company has planned Cygnus missions for the first (CRS OA-6), third (CRS OA-5) and fourth quarters (CRS OA-7) of 2016. OA-5 and OA-7 will fly on the new Antares 230 and OA-6 will fly on second Atlas V in first quarter of 2016. These three missions will enable Orbital ATK to cover their initial CRS contracted payload obligation. This particular mission is known as OA-5.

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

Main article: Cygnus (spacecraft)

This is the sixth of ten flights by Orbital Sciences under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. This will be the third flight of the Enhanced sized Cygnus PCM. The mission is expected to launch no earlier than July 6, 2016.

Manifest

Total weight of cargo: 3,500 kg (7,700 lb)

• Crew supplies: 0 pounds (0 kg)
  • Crew care packages
  • Crew provisions
  • Food
• Hardware: 0 pounds (0 kg)
• Science and research: 0 pounds (0 kg)
  • CubeSat
  • Human Research Program resupply
• Computer supplies: 0 pounds (0 kg)
• Spacewalk tools: 0 pounds (0 kg)

Other OA projects

NASA plans the next Cygnus flight, OA-7, on December 30, 2016. The following OA-8E flight has tentatively been scheduled for June 12, 2017, followed by OA-9E later that year and OA-10E in 2018. The schedules in early 2017 are dynamic, due to the first manned commercial flights (SpaceX, Boeing) to ISS.