Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Cygnus arrives at ISS

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: March 26, 2016 at 6:38:10 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Cygnus arrives at ISS

Orbital ATK's Cygnus Spacecraft Successfully Berths With International Space Station

Rendezvous and Berthing Operations of Company's S.S. Rick Husband Spacecraft Proceeded Smoothly
Cygnus Delivered More Than 7,900 Pounds of Cargo to the ISS Including Crew Supplies and Scientific Experiments
Dulles, Virginia 26 March 2016 – Orbital ATK, Inc. (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, today announced that the S.S. Rick Husband CygnusTM spacecraft successfully completed its rendezvous and berthing procedures with the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this morning. This marks the company's fifth successful berthing with the orbiting laboratory, and the fourth under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.
Cygnus launched aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket on March 22 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The spacecraft completed a series of thruster firings and other maneuvers over the past few days to bring the spacecraft in close proximity to the ISS. When it was approximately 30 feet from the ISS, crew members grappled Cygnus with the Station's robotic arm at 6:51 a.m. (EDT). The spacecraft was then guided to its berthing port on the nadir side of the Unity module of the ISS where installation concluded at 10:52 a.m. (EDT).
"As we accomplish our fifth Cygnus berthing to the ISS, we celebrate the completion of a primary mission objective for OA-6," said Frank Culbertson, President of Orbital ATK's Space Systems Group. "Our flexible Cygnus spacecraft has a lot of work left to do. Following its stay at the ISS, and for the first time, we will undertake three experiments onboard the unmanned spacecraft."
The crew plans to open the Cygnus hatch and make initial ingress into its cargo module tomorrow to unload the cargo, including food, clothing, crew supplies, spare parts, laboratory equipment and scientific experiments. Cygnus will remain berthed at the ISS for approximately two months before departing with approximately 4,400 pounds (2,000 kilograms) of disposable cargo.
Following departure from the ISS, Cygnus will conduct three payload mission objectives as part of its flight program. Using a deployer provided by NanoRacks, the S.S. Rick Husband will place five CubeSats into orbit to conduct their own autonomous missions. Onboard Cygnus, the Spacecraft Fire Experiment-I (Saffire-I) will intentionally light a large-scale fire that will grow and advance until it burns itself out. The final experiment to take place aboard Cygnus will be the Reentry Breakup Recorder (REBR). The ISS crew will install the REBR experiment on Cygnus as they pack the spacecraft with disposal cargo. REBR will measure and record data during Cygnus' safe destructive reentry into Earth's atmosphere.
Orbital ATK has two additional CRS missions scheduled in 2016 to support NASA's ISS cargo and payload mission needs. Following an Antares launch vehicle full-power hot-fire test, flight operations for Cygnus and Antares will resume mid-year from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. Under the CRS contract with NASA, Orbital ATK will deliver approximately 59,000 pounds (26,800 kilograms) of cargo to the ISS over 10 missions through 2018. Beginning in 2019, Orbital ATK will carry out a minimum of six initial cargo missions under NASA's recently awarded CRS-2 contract.
B-roll and animation footage for the mission can be found here: http://www.orbitalatk.com/news-room/bmc/#.
About Orbital ATK
Orbital ATK is a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies. The company designs, builds and delivers space, defense and aviation systems for customers around the world, both as a prime contractor and merchant supplier. Its main products include launch vehicles and related propulsion systems; missile products, subsystems and defense electronics; precision weapons, armament systems and ammunition; satellites and associated space components and services; and advanced aerospace structures. Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, Orbital ATK employs approximately 12,000 people in 18 states across the U.S. and in several international locations. For more information, visit www.orbitalatk.com.
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©2016 Orbital ATK Inc. - All Rights Reserved.

Cygnus cargo ship arrives at ISS
James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 7:27 a.m. EDT March 26, 2016

Orbital ATK's S.S. Rick Husband Cygnus cargo ship approaching the International Space Station on Saturday morning.(Photo: NASA TV)
Nearly four tons of food, spare parts and science experiments have arrived safely at the International Space Station after a late Tuesday blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
At 6:51 a.m. EDT Saturday, astronauts Tim Kopra of NASA and Tim Peake of the European Space Agency used the orbiting laboratory's 58-foot robotic arm to snare Orbital ATK's Cygnus supply ship, as both spacecraft flew 252 miles above the southern Indian Ocean.
Orbital ATK gave the Cygnus the honorary name of "S.S. Rick Husband," for the late NASA astronaut who piloted an early space shuttle mission to the ISS and commanded the Columbia crew lost during reentry from space in 2003.
"Excellent work, gentlemen," radioed Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian astronaut communicating with the crew from Mission Control in Houston. "Much appreciated. Made that look easy."
"We're really honored to bring aboard the S.S. Rick Husband to the International Space Station," replied Kopra. "It recognizes a personal hero to so many of us, and this will be the first Cygnus honoree who was directly involved with the construction of this great station."
Husband's wife and two children were present to see the Cygnus launched from Cape Canaveral by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 11:05 p.m. Tuesday.
Among the science experiments packed on the Cygnus was Strata-1, a study of simulated asteroid regolith involving researchers from the University of Central Florida.
Two more supply runs will quickly follow the Cygnus mission dubbed OA-6.
Next up: a Russian Progress freighter is due to blast off at 12:23 p.m. EDT Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and dock two days later.
Then SpaceX is targeting an April 8 launch from Cape Canaveral of a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule, the first Dragon to fly since a launch failure last June (the Falcon 9 has launched three times since then).
"The traffic just keeps coming over the short-term here," said Kenny Todd, NASA's ISS operations integration manager, before the Cygnus launch.
SpaceX last week posted a picture of one of the mission's high-profile payloads being loaded into the Dragon's unpressurized "trunk." Bigelow Aerospace's Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, is a prototype habitat module that could be the basis for a private space station.
Vulcan advances
The rocket upon which United Launch Alliance's future hinges has completed an important early design milestone, the company announced last week.
The "preliminary design review" kept the Vulcan rocket on track for a first launch as soon as 2019.
The review assessed a Vulcan powered by a pair of Blue Origin BE-4 main engines, but ULA continues to study an alternative that would use Aerojet Rocketdyne's AR1 engine instead.
The BE-4 is the more likely choice because its development is more than a year ahead of the AR1's.
ULA is developing the Vulcan to replace its existing fleet of Atlas V and Delta IV rockets.
Congress has demanded the military stop relying on Russian rocket engines to launch national security missions, limiting the future for ULA's workhorse Atlas V. The Delta IV is prohibitively expensive.
The more affordable Vulcan could allow ULA to compete with SpaceX and others not only for government missions that have been the company's primary reason for being, but also for commercial satellite launches.
However, ULA's parent companies, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, have not yet made a long-term commitment to the Vulcan, funding it only on a quarterly basis.
Antares return to flight
With a second Cygnus spacecraft safely launched from the Space Coast by an Atlas V rocket, Orbital ATK's focus is now on returning its Antares rocket to flight from Virginia.
The company in May plans to test-fire the rocket's new Russian-made RD-181 engines at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia.
The next Antares launch of a Cygnus, a mission labeled OA-5, is tentatively expected in July, but the timing depends on NASA's cargo needs.
"We look forward to flying out of there and having a two-launch site capability for the Cygnus," said Frank Culbertson, head of Orbital ATK's Space Systems Group.
Test drive
The transporter being upgraded to carry NASA's next exploration rocket to its pad was out for a test drive last week at Kennedy Space Center.
Crawler-Transporter 2 drove between the Vehicle Assembly Building and launch pad 39B to test various upgrades including new generators, bearings and jacking, elevation and leveling cylinders.
NASA first used crawler-transporters to haul Saturn V moon rockets to their pads, then space shuttles that launched for three decades.
NASA's 322-foot Space Launch System rocket, or SLS, is targeting a first test launch in 2018 from pad 39B with an unmanned Orion crew capsule. The rocket and a mobile launch tower will ride atop the crawler-transporter.
"This is going to be our crawler-transporter for the next 30 years," KSC Director Bob Cabana said earlier this month. "We are going to roll out to the pad with the vehicle that will one day take us to Mars on this crawler-transporter."
Rutherfords ready
Rocket Lab, a New Zealand company considering the Space Coast as a site for launches and engine manufacturing, says its Rutherford rocket engines are now qualified for flight.
Test flights of the Electron rocket, which is being designed to launch small satellites, could begin in the second half of this year from the company's New Zealand launch site.
"We are seeing the vehicle come together, and are looking to move to manufacturing at quantity for both our test and commercial flights," said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab CEO, in a press release.
Rocket Lab has a $7 million award from NASA's Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, to fly small satellites by April 2018.
Moon Express, which is testing a small lunar lander at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, has chosen the Electron for a planned 2017 launch in its bid to capture the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE.
Walk of Fame auction
The U.S. Space Walk of Fame Museum in downtown Titusville will host a fundraising auction of aerospace memorabilia from noon to 5 p.m. next Saturday.
More than 200 items donated by space workers and astronauts include pins and patches, signed photos, mission manuals and flight plans, and a "Lunar Bible" flown in microfilm form on Apollo 13.
Review the items and place bids online or at the museum located at 308 Pine Street. All proceeds will help the nonprofit expand its education programs refresh its gallery space Visit www.spacewalkoffame.org for details.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com.

Copyright © 2016 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved.

By William Harwood CBS News March 26, 2016, 1:00 PM
Cargo ship brings 3.6 tons of supplies to space station
A cargo ship loaded with 3.6 tons of equipment, crew supplies and research gear was captured by the International Space Station's robot arm early Saturday to close out a smooth three-day rendezvous.
The Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft, which launched Tuesday night atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, pulled up to within about 30 feet of the space station and then stood by while astronaut Tim Kopra, operating the lab's robot arm, locked onto a grapple fixture at 6:51 a.m. EDT (GMT-5).
Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston then took over arm operations and carefully pulled the cargo craft in for berthing at the Earth-facing port of the station's central Unity module. After a bit of a struggle getting the supply ship precisely aligned, motorized bolts drove home to lock the Cygnus in place.
Kopra and his crewmates plan to open the capsule Sunday to begin the process of moving equipment and supplies into the station. At the same time, they will replace the off-loaded cargo with trash and no-longer-needed gear. The cargo ship is expected to remain attached to the station for 55 days, departing May 20.
The Cygnus is the first of three cargo ships expected to reach the station over the next 15 days, a record for space station operations. A Russian Progress freighter, scheduled for launch next Thursday, will reach the station on April 2, and a SpaceX Dragon supply ship is set for launch April 8, arriving two days later.
British astronaut Timothy Peake, left, assists station commander Timothy Kopra, right, operating the lab's robot arm from the multi-window cupola to capture the Cygnus cargo ship.
NASA
The Dragon's berthing at the Harmony module's Earth-facing port will mark the first time two U.S. cargo ships have been attached to the station at the same time, joining the Cygnus, two Progress freighters and a pair of Soyuz crew ferry craft. All told, the three cargo ships will deliver some 12 tons of supplies and equipment.
The Cygnus, making Orbital ATK's fifth operational station resupply flight -- its second since a catastrophic October 2014 launch failure -- is loaded with 1,713 pounds of science gear, 2,511 pounds of crew supplies, 2,442 pounds of station hardware and another 550 pounds of computer and spacewalk equipment.
The gear includes 29 small "nano" satellites, a 3-D printer and experiments in a variety of fields, including one to study mechanical "grippers" that work on the same principal as a gecko's sticky feet, another to spectroscopically study meteor trails from above to determine their chemical constituents and one to learn more about how the soil of airless moons, comets and asteroids behaves.
One experiment will remain aboard the Cygnus and not be activated until after the spacecraft departs in May. The Spacecraft Fire Experiment, or Saffire, will ignite a relatively large piece of composite material to study how flames propagate in the absence of gravity. The goal is to learn more about fire prevention and safety in spacecraft.
The actual burning will be contained inside the Saffire experiment housing aboard Cygnus, but Kopra called down for additional details after the cargo ship was captured.
"We're somewhat familiar with the experiment that's in Cygnus called Saffire, but we wanted to see if it would be possible to send up some additional technical and safety information about the experiment," he called.
"Yes, we can put that together and get it up to you," Jay Marschke replied from mission control.
© 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Traveling Cygnus pulls into port at the International Space Station
March 26, 2016 Justin Ray
CAPE CANAVERAL — Astronauts aboard the International Space Station used the robotic arm to snare a commercial cargo ship and bring it aboard this morning while traveling at five miles per second.
The Orbital ATK Cygnus freighter, dubbed the S.S. Rick Husband, was captured at 6:51 a.m. EDT (1051 GMT) by Expedition 47 commander and arm operator Tim Kopra floating in the station's multi-window Cupola.
"Cygnus capture is complete," Kopra radioed to Mission Control in Houston as the spacecraft flew 252 miles above the southern Indian Ocean.
"Houston copies. Excellent work gentlemen. Much appreciated. Made that look easy," replied Jeremy Hansen, Canadian Space Agency astronaut serving as CAPCOM in Mission Control.
"And Houston we'd also like to say we are really honored to bring aboard the S.S. Rick Husband to the International Space Station, a personal hero to so many of us. And this will be the first Cygnus honoree who was directly involved with the construction of this great station," Kopra added.
It capped a three-day journey for the ship from the launch pad to its destination, successfully rocketing into orbit Tuesday night atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The freighter's preliminary orbit was more than a hundred miles lower than the space station as it began the chase to systematically raise its altitude through a long series of maneuvers.
Cygnus on final approach this morning. Credit: Astronaut Tim Peake
It was a textbook rendezvous this morning as Cygnus slowly approached the station from beneath the complex, stopping at a series of waypoints to verify all was normal. Expedition 47 flight engineer Tim Peake from the European Space Agency, also in the Cupola, made continual checks to ensure Cygnus was staying on course.
The craft eventually arrived 40 feet below, allowing the robot arm to capture a grapple fixture on Cygnus.
"It was a flawless rendezvous from start to finish for the Cygnus cargo craft, which was solid as a rock in its performance," NASA commentator Rob Navias said.
"All of its rendezvous burns executed perfectly, all of the terminal phase of the rendezvous executed to perfection."
The Canadian-made arm, under remote-operation via Mission Control, then maneuvered the vessel to the underside of Unity, the connecting module near the center of the station. Cygnus was delicately seated in the berthing mechanism, triggering the four "ready-to-latch" indicators at 10:37 a.m. EDT (1437 GMT).
Peake, (left) and Kopra (right) work in tandem in the Cupola. Credit: Astronaut Tim Peake
Sixteen electrically-driven bolts in the Earth-facing port, commanded via laptop computer in the Destiny laboratory module by astronaut Jeff Williams, then engaged to firmly and officially install Cygnus at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT), the 10th Commercial Resupply Services mission to reach the station and fourth by Orbital ATK.
"We are proud to be part of the machinery of human spaceflight and human presence in the exploration of space," said Dan Tani, former space shuttle and station astronaut and now the senior director for mission and cargo operations at Orbital ATK.
"Orbital Sciences was one of the first successful private space companies to get stuff into orbit, back with the Pegasus launch vehicle. Orbital was really instrumental into bringing the private sector into space."
NASA hired Orbital ATK and SpaceX to deliver cargo and goods to the International Space Station after the space shuttle fleet was retired. The next SpaceX launch is a few weeks away.
The Expedition 47 crew, now six-person strong with arrival of three fresh crew mates a week ago, intends to open the hatchway into Cygnus on Sunday morning to begin the arduous task of unloading thousands of pounds of supplies and putting it in the right locations.
"My friends in the astronaut office have sent some personal items for the crew. It is always great to find an Easter Egg, the little hidden surprises that the astronaut friends have put in there for them," Tani said.
Welcome sign placed inside Cygnus before launch. Credit: NASA
A welcome sign is placed just inside the hatch with a picture of Rick Husband, the namesake of the freighter. He was the pilot of the first space shuttle flight to dock with the International Space Station in 1999 and was the commander of Columbia's ill-fated mission in 2003 in which the crew of seven was lost.
The S.S. Rick Husband is carrying:
-Crew supplies: 2,511 pounds
-Vehicle hardware: 2,443 pounds
-Science utilization: 1,713 pounds
-EVA gear: 346 pounds
-Computer resources: 216 pounds
The Cygnus is scheduled to spend 55 days at the station, through May 20, to be emptied of the "upmass" and then filled with about 4,000 pounds of trash and no-longer-needed items to be removed from the outpost.
"Just like your house, if you started collecting the garbage in your basement or your garage, you'd look forward to garbage day. So our departure is garage day on the space station," Tani said.
"As big as the space station is, you'd be surprised how big of an issue storage space is. Anytime they can take this big ball of old food and T-shirts and towels and experiment cartridges and move it out of the way and have more room to store usable stuff, the better."
After it leaves, the Cygnus will perform an internal experiment, called SAFFIRE, to observe the propagation of fire in microgravity, then deploy some cubesats before re-entering to a harmless disposal over the South Pacific.
"We expect to be in orbit about 8 days after unberth until re-entry. And that is to get all of the SAFFIRE data down to the ground," Tani said.
What's more, a Re-entry Breakup Recorder inside the module will characterize the destructive plunge into the atmosphere for playback via satellite to investigators after a survivable unit splashes down.

© 2016 Spaceflight Now Inc.

Easter delivery: Cargo ship arrives at space station
This still image taken from NASA TV shows acommercial cargo ship named Cygnus about to connect to the …
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The six astronauts at the International Space Station got an early Easter treat this weekend with the arrival of a supply ship full of fresh food and experiments.
Instead of the usual bunny, Saturday's delivery came via a swan — Orbital ATK's Cygnus capsule, named after the swan constellation. The cargo carrier rocketed away from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday night.
NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra used the station's big robot arm to grab the capsule, as the two craft soared 250 miles above the Indian Ocean. "Excellent work, gentlemen," Mission Control radioed. Four hours later, the capsule was bolted firmly to the complex.
It's the first of three shipments coming up in quick succession. A Russian cargo ship will lift off Thursday, followed by a SpaceX supply run on April 8. NASA has turned to private industry to keep the space station stocked.
The newly arrived Cygnus holds nearly 8,000 pounds of groceries, equipment and research. Among the newfangled science: robotic grippers modeled after geckos' feet and the ingredients for a large-scale, controlled fire. A commercial-quality 3-D printer is packed inside as well; anyone will be able to order prints, for a price, from the Made In Space company. Virginia-based Orbital ATK hints Easter eggs may also be on board.
The blaze — confined to a box inside the Cygnus — won't be set until the capsule departs in May with a load of trash. NASA researchers want to see how fast the cotton-fiberglass fabric burns, in hopes of improving future spacecraft safety. Following the experiment, the capsule will burn up, for real, during re-entry.
As it turns out, the Cygnus had an out-of-the-ordinary ride to orbit. The first-stage booster of the normally reliable unmanned Atlas V rocket stopped firing six seconds early, and the upper stage had to compensate by burning a minute longer, to get the capsule in the right orbit. Rocket maker United Launch Alliance has delayed its next launch, a military satellite mission, to figure out what went wrong.
The commander of the doomed space shuttle Columbia, meanwhile, is being honored with this latest delivery. Orbital ATK named this Cygnus after Rick Husband, who piloted the first shuttle docking at the space station in 1999. He died aboard Columbia during re-entry in 2003, along with six other astronauts. Kopra called him a "personal hero" and said he was honored to welcome the "S.S. Rick Husband" aboard.

Copyright © 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Cargo ship reaches space station on resupply run
This NASA photo shows a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft on a resupply mission to the International Space Station lifting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on March 22, 2016 (AFP Photo/United Launch Alliance)
Washington (AFP) - An unmanned cargo ship packed with science experiment materials plus food, water and clothes successfully docked at the International Space Station on Saturday, NASA partner Orbital ATK said.
The cargo ship, Cygnus, which blasted off Tuesday on the resupply run, was carrying 7,900 pounds (3.6 metric tons) of supplies to the station for the ISS crew of six astronauts, as well as components to support dozens of science and research probes.
Cygnus was captured by the space station's robotic arm, operated by crew members, and guided into its berthing port. The operation was over by 1452 GMT.
"Our flexible Cygnus spacecraft has a lot of work left to do. Following its stay at the ISS, and for the first time, we will undertake three experiments onboard the unmanned spacecraft," said Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK's Space Systems Group.
The pressurized vessel will stay at the ISS until May. After loading it with trash and once it is at a safe distance from the station, NASA engineers will then set off a blaze inside the capsule to see how large flames behave in space.
NASA has set off tiny controlled fires in space in the past, but never tested how large flames react inside an orbiting space capsule.
Cygnus' cargo also includes an instrument that, for the first time, will allow experts to evaluate, from space, the chemical composition of meteors entering Earth's atmosphere.
It was also carrying a new 3D printer and another scientific highlight includes a so-called Gecko Gripper, a mechanism similar to the tiny hairs on the feet of geckos that makes it possible for them to stick to surfaces.
This technology could one day be used on the hands and feet of robots that would move along the exterior of spacecraft to carry out inspections and repairs.
It is Orbital's fifth supply mission to the ISS, as part of a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to deliver necessities to the astronauts living in space.

Copyright © 2016 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.

Space Station Snags Cygnus Supply Ship
By Sarah Lewin, Staff Writer | March 26, 2016 06:00am ET
An Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft slowly approaches the International Space Station on March 26,2016. Astronaut Tim Kopra successfully grabbed the spacecraft with the station's robotic arm.
Credit: NASA TV
An Orbital ATK Cygnus supply spacecraft successfully rendezvoused with the International Space Station early this morning (March 26), bringing vital supplies, spacewalk gear and science experiments for the crew of the orbiting lab.
Assisted by British astronaut Tim Peake, American astronaut and space station Cmdr. Tim Kopra grappled the craft with the space station's robotic arm at about 6:51 EDT (1051 GMT) this morning, and the crew will soon begin the long process of transferring nearly 7,500 lbs. (3,400 kilograms) of supplies off of the privately owned craft.
The Cygnus spacecraft is named after NASA astronaut Col. Rick Husband, the commander of space shuttle Columbia (STS-107), which broke apart on reeentry in 2003. Kopra paid tribute to Husband shortly after capturing the craft.
"Houston we'd also like to say that we're really honored to bring aboard the SS Rick Husband to the International Space Station," Kopra said. "It recognizes a personal hero to so many of us, and this will be the first Cygnus honoree who was directly involved with the construction of this great station."
The Cygnus spacecraft launched March 22 on an Atlas V rocket built by United Launch Alliance (ULA). It marks the most cargo ever carried by a Cygnus spacecraft, and is the last in Orbital ATK's current cargo delivery contract with NASA in which the company will launch a Cygnus craft on a rocket built by ULA. (Orbital ATK will use its own Antares rocket to complete the remaining cargo shipments.) [Blastoff! Orbital ATK CRS-6 Mission Launches to Space Station (Video)]
The massive experimental payload includes a camera to investigate meteor showers hitting Earth; a series of samples to test the microgravity movement of the soil-like compound covering asteroids, called regolith; sticky Gecko Gripper pads; and a permanent 3D printer for the station.
In addition, one experiment will stay on the craft while it's docked to the station, and will only be activated once it's filled with trash and released from the space station in May. That experiment, called Saffire-1, will kindle a large-scale fire in a special box to measure how fire grows and spreads in microgravity. On its way out, the spacecraft will also release five minisatellites into orbit.
Soon, the station's U.S. Laboratory Module will be looking much busier:
The @Space_Station US Laboratory Module at bedtime -- this big ship is quiet now. #GoodNight from #ISS. pic.twitter.com/NjJDgDJZCn
— Tim Kopra (@astro_tim) March 23, 2016
The current crew — which includes Kopra and Peake, along with Russian cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko, Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka — will see a lot of traffic to the station in the next few weeks. Next week, a Russian Progress supply craft will leave the station, NASA officials said, and a new one is scheduled to arrive on April 2. Later in April, SpaceX is scheduled to send a supply spacecraft to the station. The craft will be docked simultaneously with the Cygnus capsule. SpaceX's delivery will include an inflatable habitat that will add an experimental extra room to the station.

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