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SpaceX is teaming up with Northrop Grumman today to render more than 8,000 Ezra Pound of cargo , fresh food and scientific experiment to astronauts on the International Space Station .
The NG-20 resupply commission will take off from the Space Force ’s Cape Canaveral in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at around 12:07 p.m. EST . Northrop ’s Cygnus cargo space capsule will arrive at the International Space Station on February 1 .
Northrop has been launching Cygnus to the ISS for resupply missions using its own Antares skyrocket since 2013 , with the exclusion of just two missions that used a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 . But Northropretired that variation of Antares last year , and the next edition — an all - American launching fomite squall Antares 330 , which it is developing with Firefly Aerospace — will not be quick to fly until around mid-2025 .
Both Northrop and SpaceX have multibillion - dollar bill contracts with NASA to deliver cargo resupply missions to the ISS . Under its contract , SpaceX uses its Dragon capsule ; this is the first time it will launch a Cygnus .
That Northrop is using Falcon 9 — and that the change required no modification to Cynus , per Northrop VP Cyrus Dahlia during a press briefing last calendar week — reflect both company ’ critical importance to American civil space drive .
SpaceX was able-bodied to modify its own hardware to accommodate the spacecraft : William Gerstenmaier , SpaceX ’s VP of build and flight reliability , said during the briefing that the troupe added a 5 foot by 4 infantry hatch to the payload fairing to enable a “ later load ” of cargo . Loading the cargo recently in military mission preparation , or within 24 hours of launch , allowed gang to add materials ( like chalk cream ) to the spacecraft even after it was capsulize in the fairing .
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Adding the “ gigadoor ” to the fairing , as Gerstenmaier called it , is specially cunning because the content inside must rest environmentally insure .
“ That ’s a pretty intense activity , ” he said . “ It ’s take a hatful of adjustment on our part to get this hardware ready to go take flight . ”
Cygnus will remain docked to the ISS for around six months . While attach , it may apply its thrusters to hike up the altitude of the place , which is capable to atmospheric drag — an authoritative capability unparalleled to Cygnus . At the end of its stretch , astronauts will fill the spacecraft with trash and other rubble , which will burn up in the Earth ’s atmosphere .
