posted 12-09-2013 08:31 AM               

Orbital Sciences Commercial Resupply Services Mission (Orb-1)

An Antares rocket carrying Orbital's Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft is scheduled to lift-off from Pad-0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia no earlier than Dec. 18, 2013.

Antares will boost Cygnus to a target orbit of 210 km by 298 km, from which Cygnus will use its on-board thrusters to raise its orbit to rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station (ISS). Berthing with the ISS is scheduled to occur on December 21, 2013.

For this mission Cygnus will be carrying approximately 1459 kg (3,217 lbs.) of cargo to the ISS for NASA.

The Orb-1 mission is the first of eight commercial cargo resupply missions to the ISS under the NASA Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract, under which Orbital is slated to deliver up to 20,000 kg of supplies to the station.

posted 01-11-2014 02:47 PM               

The Orb-1 mission patch depicts Orbital's commercial resupply system for the International Space Station (ISS).

The Antares rocket, with its program logo depicted on the left, provides reliable space launch from the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) to low Earth orbit. The Cygnus spacecraft, which carries vital supplies and experiments to the ISS, and its logo, are depicted on the right.

The Cygnus logo is in the shape of a swan, since the Cygnus name is derived from the Latinized Greek word for swan.

On the globe, a gold arc emerges from the Antares launch site and continues to the ISS, our country's outpost in space.

Above the space station are eight stars which represent the number of missions under Orbital's ISS Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. The red star in the arc signifies that Orb-1 is the first of these missions.

Below the Antares and Cygnus logos is a globe depicting North America featuring two significant symbols.

A red star on the globe marks the Antares launch site at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on the Atlantic coast of Virginia.

The astronaut emblem on America's Pacific coast honors former NASA astronaut and test pilot C. Gordon Fullerton who flew NASA's B-52 aircraft for several of Orbital's early Pegasus rocket missions from Edwards Air Force Base, California. The Cygnus spacecraft used for the Orb-1 mission is named in honor of Mr. Fullerton.

The Orbital logo, as well as the names of its partners in the ISS cargo delivery missions, is emblazoned on the border of the design.

posted 05-11-2023 03:37 PM               

The date code for this patch is now confirmed as;

• 218032 A-B Emblem Made In China 04/23 01