Success
Cygnus CRS-2 NG-15 (S.S. Katherine Johnson)
Resupply
Northrop Grumman Space Systems(NGSS)CommercialAntares 230+
LEOorbit
This is the 15th planned flight of the Orbital ATK's uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its 14th flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. This Cygnus spacecraft carries the name of American mathematician Katherine Johnson, whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights.
Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 5:36 PM
Replay
Links
Mission details
The International Space Station programme is tied together by a complex set of legal, political and financial agreements between the sixteen nations involved in the project, governing ownership of the various components, rights to crewing and utilization, and responsibilities for crew rotation and resupply of the International Space Station. It was conceived in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, during the Space Station Freedom project as it was originally called.
Nov 20, 1998 — ongoing
Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station.The first CRS contracts were signed in 2008 and awarded $1.6 billion to SpaceX for twelve cargo Dragon and $1.9 billion to Orbital Sciences for eight Cygnus flights, covering deliveries to 2016. The Falcon 9 and Antares rockets were also developed under the CRS program to deliver cargo spacecraft to the ISS.
Dec 23, 2008 — ongoing
Orbital Attempt
#6,051
NGSS Mission
#8
Pad Launch
#15
Location Launch
#69
Designator
2021-013
Weather GO
75%
Launch Window
NET
Feb 20, 2021, 5:36 PM
Precision
Second
Schedule Changes
1 update
Lift Off
5:36 PM
Window Open
5:41 PM
Window Close
Antares 230+ Specs
Antares known during early development as Taurus II, is an expendable launch system developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (now part of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems after Northrop Grumman acquired Orbital ATK) and the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau to launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station as part of NASA's COTS and CRS programs. Able to launch payloads heavier than 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) into low-Earth orbit, Antares is the largest rocket operated by Orbital ATK. Antares launches from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and made its inaugural flight on April 21, 2013.
Length
42.5 m
Diameter
3.9 m
Launch Mass
286 t
Thrust
3,844 kN
LEO Capacity
8,200 kg
Reusable
No
Maiden Flight
2019
Fastest Turnaround
3mo 15d
Total Launches
8
Successful
8
Failed
0
Consecutive Success
8
Maiden flight: Nov 2, 2019
Launch Area 0 A
LP-0A was first built for the failed Conestoga rocket program. The original launch tower was subsequently demolished in September 2008. A new pad facility was built from 2009 to 2011 for Orbital Sciences Taurus II, now renamed Antares.
Total Launches
19
Orbital Attempts
19
Fastest Turnaround
3mo 15d
Northrop Grumman Space Systems
Northrup Grumman Space Systems designs, builds and delivers space, defence and aviation-related systems to customers around the world. They aquired Orbital ATK in 2018 along with its launchers and ongoing missions.
Founded
2015
Administrator
CEO: Kathy Warden
Total Launches
16
Successful
16
Failed
0
Pending
2
Consecutive Success
16
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA
Wallops Flight Facility is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and north-northeast of Norfolk. The facility is operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and primarily serves to support science and exploration missions for NASA and other federal agencies. WFF includes an extensively instrumented range to support launches of more than a dozen types of sounding rockets; small expendable suborbital and orbital rockets; high-altitude balloon flights carrying scientific instruments for atmospheric and astronomical research; and, using its Research Airport, flight tests of aeronautical research aircraft, including uncrewed aerial vehicles.
Timezone
America/New_York
Local Launch Time
Feb 20, 2021, 12:36 PM
Total Launches
86
Total Landings
0
Coordinates
37.9333, -75.4678