Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft efficiently launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Area Heart in Florida on Sunday, however a short time later, NASA reported a problem with the uncrewed automobile because it headed to the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) with 8,200 kilos of provides.
“Shortly after launch, the spacecraft missed its first burn slated for 11:44 a.m. as a result of a late entry to burn sequencing,” NASA mentioned in a message on its web site on Sunday.
It mentioned the process, often called a “focused altitude burn,” or “TB1,” was rescheduled for a bit later, however then aborted after the engine ignited due to a barely low preliminary strain state.
“There is no such thing as a indication the engine itself has any downside presently,” the area company mentioned.
Cygnus is reported to be at a protected altitude, and Northrop Grumman engineers are engaged on a brand new burn and trajectory plan.
NASA mentioned that the present goal is to attain the spacecraft’s unique ISS docking time of three:10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, August 6.
With a document of principally flawless flights over its 11-year historical past, information of an issue with Cygnus will come as a shock to many who comply with its missions. However engineers linked to the present flight are clearly assured that they will get the Cygnus spaceship to the ISS with none critical problems.
Cygnus is carrying with it quite a lot of science experiments, in addition to spacewalk gear, automobile {hardware}, and pc assets for the ISS crew. Digital Tendencies has extra data on the gear that it’s transporting to the orbital outpost.
