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Robert Pearlman
After a successful launch, Mission Control is troubleshooting two missed thruster firings by the Cygnus spacecraft. From CBS News' Bill Harwood:
Mission Control just alerted the ISS crew to a possible issue with the Cygnus cargo ship:
"Just to let you guys know, good comm with Cygnus, we're going to have solar array deploy in about an hour. The first two burns were not performed by Cygnus, so they're re-assessing what's the current state of the burn plan. We're hoping to still keep Tuesday (for capture by ISS), but we'll re-assess once we figure out what went wrong with the first two burns."
Robert Pearlman
Update from CBS News' Bill Harwood:
The ISS crew just asked for a Cygnus update; the mission control CAPCOM replied:
"We just got word the solar arrays are deployed on Cygnus successfully, so that's good news. Also, on the previous burns, sounds like (not understandable) erroneously stopped the burns.
The Cygnus team thinks that the engines are still good, and so now it's just a matter of coming up with a new burn plan to try to still get (capture on) Tuesday. So they're still working on that. They probably won't have that by the time you go to sleep, so by the time you wake up, we'll know what the plan is."
ISS crew member Mike Barratt replied: "OK, that sounds like great news, and we'll tell Matt and Jeanette to keep practicing that (robot arm) capture."
Robert Pearlman
Cygnus completes solar arrays deployment
Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft completed the deployment of its two solar arrays at 2:21 p.m. EDT after launching at 11:02 a.m. Aug. 4 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to the International Space Station for NASA.
Shortly after launch, the spacecraft missed its first burn slated for 11:44 a.m. due to a late entry to burn sequencing. Known as the targeted altitude burn, or TB1, it was rescheduled for 12:34 p.m., but aborted the maneuver shortly after the engine ignited due to a slightly low initial pressure state. There is no indication the engine itself has any problem at this time.
Cygnus is at a safe altitude, and Northrop Grumman engineers are working a new burn and trajectory plan. The team aims to achieve the spacecraft's original capture time on station, which is currently slated for 3:10 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 6.
If all remains on track, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick will capture Cygnus using the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm with NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps as his backup. After capture, the spacecraft will be installed on the Unity module's Earth-facing port.
Robert Pearlman
NASA release
Cygnus continues to space station
Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft continues on its way to the International Space Station.
The Cygnus spacecraft has completed two delta velocity burns, and it remains on track for a capture by the space station's robotic arm slated for 3:10 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Aug. 6. The spacecraft is in a safe trajectory, and all other systems are operating normally.
Shortly after launch on Sunday, the spacecraft performed as designed by cancelling a scheduled engine burn due to a slightly low initial pressure reading flagged by the Cygnus onboard detection system. Engineers at Northrop Grumman's mission control center in Dulles, Virginia evaluated the pressure reading, confirmed it was acceptable and re-worked the burn plan to arrive at the space station on the originally planned schedule.
Robert Pearlman
Cygnus arrives at space station
Expedition 71 flight engineer Matthew Dominick captured Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft using the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm on Tuesday (Aug. 6) at 3:11 a.m. EDT (0711 GMT), as the station was flying about 260 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean.
Flight controllers in Houston then installed the Cygnus on the Unity node at 5:33 a.m. EDT (0933 GMT).
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