Northrop Grumman's Cygnus cargo craft departs space station

Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft departed the International Space Station on Friday, December 22, concluding a four-and-a-half month space station cargo mission. Filled with trash packed by the station crew, the space freighter will orbit Earth on its own until early January for a fiery, but safe demise above the South Pacific Ocean.

Cygnus arrived at the space station on August 4 to deliver about 8,200 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo for the station residents. It was Northrop Grumman's 19th commercial resupply services mission to the space station for NASA.

.@NorthropGrumman's Cygnus space freighter was released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm at 8:06am ET today ending its station cargo mission after four-and-a-half months. More... https://t.co/XUy377BAnb pic.twitter.com/7xjliXRovY

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) December 22, 2023

A day earlier, on Thursday, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station with more than 4,300 pounds of scientific cargo. After re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft made a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida on Friday, December 22.

Dragon arrived at the space station on November 11 as SpaceX's 29th commercial resupply services mission for NASA, delivering about 6,500 pounds of research investigations, crew supplies, and station hardware. 

What's next?

NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are now gearing up for the launch of the Axiom Mission-3 to the space station. The mission will launch on Wednesday, January 17, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.

The mission will be commanded by Axiom Space’s chief astronaut and former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría while Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei will serve as pilot. Alper Gezeravci of Turkey and ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Marcus Wandt of Sweden will serve as mission specialists for this short-duration private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.