An unmanned Orbital Science's Corporation Cygnus cargo spacecraft will depart from The International Space Station on Tuesday at 7:40 pm MYT (11:40 am GMT) to wrap up a successfully debut delivery mission for NASA. You can watch the cargo craft's Unberthing and Releasing  live on NASA TV here on Daniel R, Junior's Astronomy starting at 7 pm MYT (11 am GMT).

 

 

The robotic Cygnus spacecraft built by the Dulles, Virginia. -based spaceflight company Orbital Sciences is a disposable resupply ship designed to haul more than 1000 kg of cargo to astronauts on the International Spacce Station. The spacecraft made its first test flight to the space station in September 2013. They launch on commercial Antares rockets, which are also built by Orbital Science's Corporation.

 

 

The current Cygnus cargo craft at the station launched on January 9, 2014 on the Orb-1 mission, Orbital Science's first official cargo resupply flight for NASA under a $1.9 billion contract. The contract calls for eight delivery missions in all. For Orb-1, the Cygnus spacecraft delivered 1,260 Kg (2,780 lbs.) of fresh foods, clothings, scientific equipment and other gear for station's astronauts and cosmonauts. Those supplies include a wealth of new research gear, including a space ant colony, 33 small cubesat satellites and 23 student designed experinments.

 

Orbital Sciences launched the Cygnus spacecraft from a commercial pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The pad is managed by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The next Cygnus delivery mission is slated to launch to the space station in May.Orbital Sciences is one of two companies currently flying delivery missions to the space station for NASA. The other company is Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX, which has a $1.6 billion contract to fly 12 cargo missions to the station using its Dragon space capsules and Falcon 9 rockets. SpaceX has flown two cargo missions so far and is expected to launch the third flight in March.