U.S. CARGO SHIP DEPARTS THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION Three months after arriving at the International Space Station with scientific experiments and supplies for the outpost’s residents, the unpiloted Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship departed the orbital laboratory May 11, headed for several weeks in orbit as a free-flying science platform. Ground controllers at Mission Control, Houston sent commands to release Cygnus from the Canadarm2 robotic arm after it had been unberthed from the station’s Unity module. Dubbed the “SS Robert H. Lawrence” after the Air Force major selected to be the first African-American to fly in space, Cygnus will remain in orbit as a platform from which small Cubesat satellites will be launched and fire suppression experiments will be conducted before it is deorbited May 29 or 30 to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up harmlessly over the Pacific Ocean.
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NASA ID
iss063m261321544_Expedition_63_Cygnus_CRS-13_Release_200511
Date Created
May 11, 2020
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JSC
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video
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