Nearly three months after delivering several tons of supplies and scientific experiments to the International Space Station, Northrup Grummans unpiloted Cygnus cargo craft is scheduled to depart the International Space Station on Monday, May 11.
Live coverage of the spacecrafts release will air on NASA Television and the agencys website beginning at 11:45 a.m. EDT, with release scheduled for noon.
Dubbed the SS Robert H. Lawrence, Cygnus arrived at the station Feb. 18 with supplies and science experiments following its launch on Northrup Grummans Antares rocket from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.
Flight controllers on the ground will send commands to robotically detach Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the Unity module, maneuver it into place, and release it from the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Station commander Christopher Cassidy of NASA will monitor Cygnus systems as it moves away from the orbiting laboratory.
Within 24 hours of its release, Cygnus will begin its secondary mission, hosting the Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment IV (Saffire-IV), which provides an environment to safely study fire in microgravity. It also will deploy a series of payloads. Northrop Grumman flight controllers in Dulles, Virginia, will initiate Cygnus deorbit to burn up in Earths atmosphere Monday, May 25.
