January 8, 2014: On January 9, 2014, Orbital Sciences will launch the second flight of its Cygnus automated spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). This flight, called Orb-1, is the first of eight scheduled Cygnus cargo resupply missions to ISS under Orbital’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. Launch is currently scheduled for 18:07 GMT Thursday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops, Virginia. Final approach to ISS and capture via robotic arm by the on-board crew is expected to occur at approximately 11:02 GMT on Sunday, January 12, 2014. Odyssey personnel will be supporting the Cygnus rendezvous and capture in real-time from the Mission Control Complex at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.
Odyssey’s support role for Orbital’s Cygnus development was extensive, including System Engineering design support, Concept of Operations development, Robotic Capture design and analysis, and Independent Verification and Validation of all safety critical software. For more information on the Cygnus and the Orb-1 mission, go to the Cygnus website at: http://www.orbital.com/AdvancedSystems/CRS
