Space Station Commercial Cargo Carrier Arriving At NASA Wallops

Michael Braukus/J.D. Harrington

Headquarters, Washington

 

Keith Koehler

Wallops Flight Facility, Va.

 

Barron Beneski

Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va.

WASHINGTON -- NASA's partnership with industry to develop transportation to the International Space Station reaches another milestone on Wednesday, Aug. 24. The cargo module for Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft, which will carry supplies to the station, is scheduled to arrive at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Reporters are invited to cover the arrival of Cygnus' Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) at 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday. NASA officials and Orbital representatives will be available for interviews. To attend, journalists must contact Keith Koehler at 757-824-1579 or e-mail keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov by noon EDT on Aug. 23.

During the next several months, Orbital's engineering team will integrate the PCM with the Cygnus service module that includes the spacecraft's avionics, propulsion and power systems.

The Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled for a demonstration flight early next year on an Orbital Taurus II launch vehicle under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services agreement with the company. Cygnus will launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's pad 0A at Wallops. For information about the spacecraft, visit http://www.orbital.com/CargoResupplyServices/.

For information about NASA's commercial space transportation efforts, visit http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/index.html.

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