 Canadarm2 grapples the S.S.Alan Poindexter. | |
| Names | CRS OA-5 CRS Orb-5 (2008–2015) Orbital-5 (2008–2015) |
|---|---|
| Mission type | ISS resupply |
| Operator | Orbital ATK |
| COSPAR ID | 2016-062A |
| SATCATno. | 41818 |
| Mission duration | 40 days, 23 hours, 51 minutes |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | S.S.Alan Poindexter |
| Spacecraft type | Enhanced Cygnus[1][2] |
| Manufacturer |
|
| Launch mass | 6,172 kg (13,607 lb)[3] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 17 October 2016, 23:45:36 (2016-10-17UTC23:45:36Z) UTC (7:45:36 pm EDT)[4] |
| Rocket | Antares 230[5][6] |
| Launch site | MARS,Pad 0A |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Deorbited |
| Decay date | 27 November 2016, 23:36 (2016-11-27UTC23:37Z) UTC |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Inclination | 51.66° |
| Berthing atISS | |
| Berthing port | Unitynadir[4] |
| RMS capture | 23 October 2016, 11:28 UTC[7] |
| Berthing date | 23 October 2016, 14:53 UTC[8] |
| Unberthing date | 21 November 2016, 11:25 UTC[9] |
| RMS release | 21 November 2016, 13:22 UTC[10][11] |
| Time berthed | 28 days, 20 hours, 32 minutes |
| Cargo | |
| Mass | 2,425 kg (5,346 lb)[3] |
| Pressurised | 2,342 kg (5,163 lb)[12] |
| Unpressurised | 83 kg (183 lb)[12] |
  NASA (left) and Orbital ATK (right) insignias | |
OA-5, previously known asOrbital-5, was the seventh planned flight of theOrbital Sciences'uncrewed resupply spacecraftCygnus and its sixth flight to theInternational Space Station under theCommercial Resupply Services contract withNASA.[13][14] The mission launched on 17 October 2016 at 23:45:36UTC. Orbital Sciences and NASA jointly developed a new space transportation system to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS). Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) program, Orbital designed and built Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced maneuvering spacecraft; and a Pressurized Cargo Module which is provided by Orbital's industrial partner Thales Alenia Space.[15]
The Cygnus spacecraft for this mission is named theS.S.Alan Poindexter in honor to astronautAlan G. Poindexter, a deceasedSpace Shuttle commander.[16] Poindexter was selected in the1998 NASA Group (G17) and went into orbit aboard Space Shuttle missionsSTS-122 andSTS-131.
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The COTS demonstration mission was successfully conducted in September 2013, and Orbital commenced operational ISS cargo missions under the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) program with two missions in 2014. Regrettably, the third operational mission,Cygnus Orb-3, was not successful due to spectacularAntares failure during launch. The company decided to discontinue theAntares 100 series and accelerate the introduction of a new propulsion system. The Antares system is being upgraded with newly builtRD-181 first stage engines to provide greater payload performance and increased reliability.[17]
In late 2014, Orbital Sciences contractedUnited Launch Alliance for anAtlas V launch ofCygnus CRS OA-4 in late 2015 fromCape Canaveral,Florida, and with a second Atlas V launch of Cygnus in 2016.[17][18] The company plans three Cygnus missions in 2016, in the first (Cygnus CRS OA-6), third (Cygnus CRS OA-5) and fourth quarters (Cygnus OA-7) of 2016. The Cygnus OA-5 and OA-7 will fly on the newAntares 230 and OA-6 will fly on second Atlas V in first quarter of 2016. These three missions enable Orbital ATK to fulfill their CRS contracted payload obligation.[18] This particular mission is known asOA-5.
Production and integration of Cygnus spacecraft is performed in Dulles, Virginia. The Cygnus service module is mated with the pressurized cargo module at the launch site, and mission operations are conducted from control centers inDulles, Virginia andHouston,Texas.[15]
This was the sixth of ten flights byOrbital ATK under theCommercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract withNASA. This was the third flight of the Enhanced sized Cygnus PCM.[18] The mission successfully launched on 17 October 2016, 23:45 UTC.[4]
In keeping with an Orbital ATK tradition, this Cygnus spacecraft is named the S.S.Alan Poindexter after the NASA astronaut who flew aboard the Space Shuttle twice (2008 and 2010).
Total cargo mass on ascent: 2,425 kg (5,346 lb)[3]
NASA had planned the next Cygnus flight,Cygnus CRS OA-7, for 30 December 2016. However, in October 2016, it was announced that OA-7 was being delayed until March 2017 and switched from theAntares launch vehicle to aUnited Launch AllianceAtlas V rocket to provide additional cargo up mass for NASA.[19]
In 2015, under the NASA CRS-1 contract, Orbital Sciences was awarded three extension flights for 2017 and 2018. TheCygnus CRS OA-8E flight has tentatively been scheduled for 12 June 2017, followed byCygnus OA-9E later that year andOA-10E in 2018. Cargo vehicle scheduling is dynamic with the ISS partners. The schedule will be influenced by the first USA crewed commercial flights (SpaceX,Boeing) to ISS since Space Shuttle retirement in 2011.[14][20]
On 25 November 2016, after leaving the ISS, the spacecraft raised its orbit to 500 kilometers and released fourLemur-2 cubesats forSpire Global.[21]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.| Launch vehicles |  | |
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