Cygnus launched from Wallops Island to return from International Space Station Tuesday

(NASABill Ingalls, Daily Press / January 4, 2014)

After spending five weeks at the International Space Station, the Cygnus commercial space freighter that launched from Wallops Island last month is set to disembark Tuesday.

The unmanned Cygnus delivered abut 2,800 pounds of crew provisions, science experiments, hardware and spare parts after it launched Jan. 9 aboard an Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on the Eastern Shore. It docked with the station four days later.

On its return flight, the Cygnus will be packed with disposable cargo or space station trash and is slated to burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

This is the maiden operational mission to the ISS for Orbital Sciences Corp., based in Dulles, under its $1.9 billion NASA contract to resupply the station through 2016.

NASA said the Cygnus will detach from the station's Harmony module at around 5:30 a.m., and be released at 6:40 a.m. It will record the undocking and replay it during live coverage of the release, set to begin on NASA Television at 6 a.m. To view, go to http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv.

The Cygnus will begin to maneuver a safe distance away, then on Wednesday will fire its engines twice so it can slip out of orbit for a "destructive entry" in Earth's atmosphere, NASA said. It won't provide television coverage of that event.

The next Orbital resupply launch is currently set for May 1 from MARS.

Dietrich can be reached by phone at 757-247-7892.

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Cygnus launched from Wallops Island to return from International Space Station Tuesday