From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2015 American resupply spaceflight to the ISS
OA-4
An Atlas V 401 launches the S.S.
Deke Slayton II
.
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Names
| Orbital-4 (2008?2015)
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Mission type
| ISS Resupply
[1]
|
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Operator
| Orbital ATK
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COSPAR ID
| 2015-072A
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SATCAT
no.
| 41101
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Mission duration
| 75 days, 18 hours, 15 minutes
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|
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Spacecraft
| S.S.
Deke Slayton II
|
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Spacecraft type
| Enhanced Cygnus
[2]
|
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Manufacturer
| |
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Launch mass
| 7,492 kg (16,517 lb)
[3]
|
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Payload mass
| 3,513 kg (7,745 lb)
|
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|
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Launch date
| 6 December 2015, 21:44:57
UTC
|
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Rocket
| Atlas V 401
(AV-061)
|
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Launch site
| Cape Canaveral
SLC-41
|
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Contractor
| United Launch Alliance
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Disposal
| Deorbited
|
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Decay date
| 20 February 2016, 16:00 UTC
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Reference system
| Geocentric orbit
[5]
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Regime
| Low Earth orbit
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Inclination
| 51.64°
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Berthing port
| Unity
nadir
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RMS
capture
| 9 December 2015, 11:19 UTC
[6]
|
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Berthing date
| 9 December 2015, 14:26 UTC
|
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Unberthing date
| 19 February 2016, 10:38 UTC
[7]
|
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RMS release
| 19 February 2016, 12:26 UTC
|
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Time berthed
| 71 days, 20 hours, 12 minutes
|
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|
NASA insignia
|
OA-4
, previously known as
Orbital-4
, was the fourth successful flight of the
Orbital ATK
uncrewed resupply spacecraft
Cygnus
and its third flight to the
International Space Station
(ISS) under the
Commercial Resupply Services
(CRS-1) contract with
NASA
.
[8]
[9]
With the
Antares
launch vehicle undergoing a redesign following its failure during the
Orb-3
launch, OA-4 was launched by an
Atlas V
launch vehicle. Following three launch delays due to inclement weather beginning on 3 December 2015, OA-4 was launched at 21:44:57
UTC
on 6 December 2015. With a liftoff weight of 7,492 kg (16,517 lb), OA-4 became the heaviest payload ever launched on an Atlas V.
[10]
The spacecraft rendezvoused with and was berthed to the ISS on 9 December 2015.
[6]
It was released on 19 February 2016 after 72 days at the International Space Station. Deorbit occurred on 20 February 2016 at approximately 16:00 UTC.
Spacecraft
[
edit
]
OA-4 was the fourth of eight flights by
Orbital ATK
under the
Commercial Resupply Services
(CRS-1) contract with
NASA
and the inaugural flight of the larger Enhanced Cygnus PCM. The mission was originally scheduled for 1 April 2015.
[11]
The
Atlas V
launch vehicle
launched in the 401 vehicle configuration with a four-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.
[8]
In an Orbital ATK tradition, this Cygnus spacecraft was named
Deke Slayton II
after
Deke Slayton
, one of NASA's original
Mercury Seven
astronauts
and Director of Flight Operations, who died in 1993. This spacecraft reuses the name
Deke Slayton
, originally applied to the Orb-3 spacecraft which was lost in an Antares rocket explosion in October 2014.
[12]
Manifest
[
edit
]
The mission was the first flight of the enhanced variant of Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft, capable of delivering more than 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) of essential crew supplies, equipment and scientific experiments to the
International Space Station
(ISS).
Total cargo: 3,349 kilograms (7,383 lb)
[6]
[13]
- Crew supplies: 1,181 kg (2,604 lb)
- Crew care packages
- Crew provisions
- Food
- Vehicle Hardware: 1,010 kg (2,230 lb)
- Crew health care system hardware
- Environment control and life-support equipment
- Electrical power system hardware
- Extravehicular robotics equipment
- Flight crew equipment
- PL facility
- Structural and mechanical equipment
- Internal thermal control system hardware
- Science Investigations: 847 kg (1,867 lb)
- A new life science facility called the Space Automated Bio Lab (SABL) that will support studies on cell cultures, bacteria, and other micro-organisms;
- A microsatellite deployer and the second microsatellite to be deployed from the space station;
- The NASA LONESTAR experimental payload consisting of the AggieSat4 and Bevo-2 satellites
[14]
- Experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids and clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel; and
- Evaluations of flame-resistant textiles.
- Computer Resources: 87 kilograms (192 lb)
- Command and data handling
- Photo and TV equipment
- Spacewalk Equipment: 230 kg (510 lb)
Total cargo with packing material: 3,513 kg (7,745 lb)
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"NASA Science, Cargo Heads to Space Station on Northrop Grumman Resupply Mission"
. NASA. 2 October 2020
. Retrieved
31 May
2021
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
"Space industry giants Orbital upbeat ahead of Antares debut"
. NASASpaceFlight.com. 22 February 2012
. Retrieved
31 May
2021
.
- ^
"International Space Station and crew awaiting Atlas 5 launch of Cygnus"
. Spaceflight Now. 29 November 2015
. Retrieved
2 December
2015
.
- ^
"Cygnus ORB-4"
. N2YO.com
. Retrieved
9 December
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
Ray, Justin (9 December 2015).
"U.S. resupply of space station successfully resumes"
. Spaceflight Now
. Retrieved
9 December
2015
.
- ^
Evans, Ben (19 February 2016).
"As OA-4 Cygnus Departs, Commercial Cargo Providers Prepare for Busy Visiting Vehicle Manifest"
. AmericaSpace
. Retrieved
20 February
2016
.
- ^
a
b
"Launch Schedule"
. Spaceflight Now
. Retrieved
26 January
2015
.
- ^
"International Space Station Flight Schedule"
. SEDS. 15 May 2013.
- ^
Ray, Justin (6 December 2015).
"Atlas 5 rocket sends Cygnus in hot pursuit of space station"
. Spaceflight Now
. Retrieved
7 December
2015
.
- ^
Graham, William; Bergin, Chris (28 October 2014).
"Orbital's Antares fails seconds after launch"
. NASASpaceFight.com.
- ^
"Orbital ATK's Cargo Delivery Mission to International Space Station Set to Launch"
. Orbital ATK. 1 December 2015. Archived from
the original
on 8 December 2015
. Retrieved
2 December
2015
.
- ^
"Orbital ATK CRS-4 Mission Overview"
(PDF)
. NASA. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 5 March 2016
. Retrieved
9 December
2015
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
"Low Earth Orbiting Navigation Experiment for Spacecraft Testing Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (LONESTAR)"
. NASA
. Retrieved
12 December
2015
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Cygnus 5
at Wikimedia Commons
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Launch vehicles
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Operators
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Past missions
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Future missions
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- Signs
†
indicate launch failures.
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2005?2009
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2015?2019
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2020?2024
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Future
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Spacecraft
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- Ongoing spaceflights in
underline
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italics
- † - mission failed to reach ISS
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January
| |
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February
| |
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March
| |
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April
| |
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May
|
- Mexsat-1
- USA-261
/
X-37 OTV-4
,
LightSail-1
,
USS Langley
,
BRICSat-P
,
ParkinsonSat
,
GEARRS-2
,
AeroCube
8A, 8B,
OptiCube
1, 2, 3
- DirecTV-15
,
SKY Mexico
-1
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June
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July
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August
| |
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September
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October
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November
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December
| |
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Launches are separated by dots ( ? ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ).
Crewed flights
are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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