Cygnus CRS-12 (NG-12, SS. Alan Bean)

Launch data:

Description:

• Orbital Sciences CYGNUS CRS Flight 12, is the 13 flight of the Orbital ATK unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its 12 flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. Orbital 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, then Orbital Sciences 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.
• Among the research payloads aboard NG-12 are a Made-in-Space Recycler to test mechanisms for processing plastics into 3D printing filaments for transfer to the station′s 3D printer and a zero-gravity oven to examine the practicalities of baking food in microgravity, which may have psychological and physiological benefits for crew members on long-duration deep-space missions. The AstroRad experiment will provide an experimental &isquo:vest′ to be worn by female crew members—on account of their heightened radiation-induced cancer risk to ovaries and breast tissue—in order to mitigate the effects of unpredictable solar-particle events.
• Additionally, NG-12 carries tools and equipment in support of the replacement of the degraded Tracker Thermal Control System (TTCS) on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS)-2. In the November-December timeframe, Exp 61 astronauts Luca Parmitano and Drew Morgan will perform five spacewalks to support this work.
• The particle physics experiment launched in 2011 with a 3-year expected lifespan. It was never designed to be serviced, so it was not designed with tools in mind, nor are there handrails or foot restraints. Astronauts have never cut and reconnected fluid lines during a spacewalk either, so scientists and engineers from around the world have been tackling the challenges for four years to prepare for and train the astronauts for the upcoming spacewalks.

Mission details:

• The first launch in the CRS2 commercial cargo supply contract was carried out on Nov 2, 2019.
  Cygnus flight NG-12 was launched aboard the first Antares 230+. The new rocket has minor changes from the Antares 230, including a redesigned stage 1/2 interstage section. The Castor 30XL second stage motor and the Cygnus were inserted in a 187 x 257 km x 51.6 deg orbit. Cygnus NG-12 has been named the S.S. Alan Bean.
• The launch of Cygnus NG-12, also mark a unique occasion for as many as two Cygnuses to be in space simultaneously. The NG-11 spacecraft, unberthed from the ISS in August, but has since been flying independently to complete a multi-month “secondary mission”, which involves the deployment of several CubeSats via the Slingshot CubeSat Deployer System and the NanoRacks external CubeSat deployer. NG-11 is due to re-enter the atmosphere to destruction in December. According to Northrop Grumman Corp., the extended flight demonstrates the “capability to fly two Cygnus vehicles simultaneously and support hosted payloads for longer periods of time”, as well as reinforcing the spacecraft′s ability “to serve a robust and growing commercial economy in low-Earth orbit”.
• Cygnus had a launch mass of 8011 kg and carried 3586 kg of pressurized cargo and 119 kg of external cargo. The latter consisted of the NanoRacks NRCSD-E external deployer with seven cubesats aboard. Inside Cygnus is the US Air Force STPSAT-4 satellite (for SSIKLOPS deploy, probably around 50 kg), five cubesats with the NanoRacks NRCSD-17 package to be deployed from the Kibo module, and two more unidentified cubesats.
• Following liftoff, NG-12 will spend two days in transit, before it is captured by the station′s 57.7-foot-long (17.6-meter) Canadarm2 early Monday, 4 November. At the controls of the robotic arm will be Expedition 61 astronaut Jessica Meir, backed-up in the multi-windowed cupola by crewmate Christina Koch, only two weeks after the duo completed their historic all-female spacewalk together. After Meir has grappled Cygnus, ground controllers will remotely command the arm to berth the spacecraft at the Earth-facing (or “nadir”) port of the Unity node, where it will remain through its departure and re-entry in January 2020. All told, NG-12 carries the largest haul of payloads ever delivered by a Cygnus, totaling 8,200 pounds (3,720 kg).
  
  

  The NG-12 Cygnus will be grappled by Exp 61 astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch. Photo Credit: NASA/Northrop

  Cygnus docking

  
  
• On Nov 4, 2019 NG-12 completed its rendezvous with the ISS. The Canadarm-2 grappled it at 0910 UTC and berthed it at Unity nadir at 1121 UTC.
• On Jan 29, 2020 the Cyclops deployer was used to deploy the USAF STPSAT-4 satellite delivered to ISS aboard NG-12. STPSAT-4/Cyclops was extracted from the Kibo airlock and STPSAT-4 was ejected into orbit at 0720 UTC Jan 29.
• On Jan 31, 2020 at about 1115 UTC the Canadarm-2 unberthed Cygnus NG-12, the S.S. Alan Bean, from the Unity nadir port. Cygnus NG-12 was released into orbit at 1436 UTC.
• On Jan 31 to Feb 1, 2020 Cygnus NG-12 released seven cubesats from the Nanoracks NRCSD-E dispenser and seven cubesats from the SEOPS/SpaceflightInc Slingshot system.
• The Cygnus NG-12 cargo ship S.S. Alan Bean was deorbited over the Pacific on Mar 17, 2020; the last telemetry signal was at 2316:56 UTC.

Astrophilately covers:

Unberthed date cancel Houston. Credit: #411