Well done Orbital Sciences! Cygnus Spacecraft Leaves The ISS. Florida Today (10/23, Dean) reports Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus spacecraft successfully left the ISS on Tuesday. Astronaut Cady Coleman, radioing from Mission Control, said, “It’s been a great mission.” According to the article, once the spacecraft is disposed of today and the last milestone for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program has been completed, NASA will take “several weeks” to review and then “officially approve” Orbital to make deliveries to the ISS. The Christian Science Monitor (10/22, Spotts) describes this milestone as a “wipe-the-brow moment for NASA,” because this was an important part of NASA’s plans to shift away from the shuttle and replace some of its capabilities. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement, “We are delighted to now have two American companies able to resupply the station. ... Orbital’s success today is helping make NASA’s future exploration to farther destinations possible.” Alan Lindenmoyer, head of “NASA’s efforts to foster commercial cargo and crew transportation,” said, “I think we can say conclusively that we’ve added another partner to the list that helped us achieve these goals 100 percent. We now have two new launch vehicles, two new state-of-the-art autonomous spacecraft capable of carrying cargo to human destinations in space, two new launch pads, two new mission controls – the entire infrastructure to support these two new systems.” According to the Newport News (VA) Daily Press (10/23, Dietrich), the “flawless departure” sets up the first official resupply mission tentatively scheduled for December, a “new chapter” for the state of Virginia and state officials who want it to be a “major hub for the commercial space industry.” Meanwhile, Reuters (10/23, Klotz) reports NASA mission commentator Josh Byerly said during a NASA TV broadcast, “This test flight went pretty much without any hiccups at all.” Popular Mechanics (10/23, Moseman) describes this demonstration mission as a “major success” for Orbital. Also covering the story are the AP (10/23), Hampton Roads (VA) Virginian Pilot (10/23, King), Leesburg (VA) Today (10/23), Washington Business Journal (10/23, Clabaugh, Subscription Publication), the WVEC-TV Hampton Roads, VA (10/23) website, WWJ-TV Detroit (10/23, Roush) website, WDMT-TV Salisbury, MD (10/23, Leibowitz) website, Global News (CAN) (10/23, Mortillaro), AFP (10/23, (afp)), Discovery News (10/23, Klotz), and other media sources.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 12:50:51 +0000
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