Cygnus NG-16
Cygnus NG-16, previously known as Cygnus OA-16, was the sixteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its fifteenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-2) contract with NASA. The mission was launched on 10 August 2021 at 22:01:05 UTC, for a (planned) 90-day mission at the ISS. This was the fifth launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.
A Northrop Grumman Antares 230 launch vehicle with Cygnus NG-16 spacecraft onboard | |
| Names | Cygnus OA-16 (2016–2018) |
|---|---|
| Mission type | ISS resupply |
| Operator | Northrop Grumman / NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 2021-072A |
| SATCAT no. | 49064 |
| Website | Cygnus NG-16 |
| Mission duration | 126 days, 8 hours, 23 minutes |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | S.S. Ellison Onizuka |
| Spacecraft type | Enhanced Cygnus |
| Manufacturer |
|
| Launch mass | 8,041 kg (17,727 lb) |
| Payload mass | 3,723 kg (8,208 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 10 August 2021, 22:01:05 UTC |
| Rocket | Antares 230+ |
| Launch site | Wallops Islands, Pad 0A |
| Contractor | Northrop Grumman |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Deorbited |
| Decay date | 15 December 2021, 06:25 UTC |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Inclination | 51.66° |
| Berthing at International Space Station | |
| Berthing port | Unity nadir |
| RMS capture | 12 August 2021, 10:07 UTC |
| Berthing date | 12 August 2021, 13:42 UTC |
| Unberthing date | 20 November 2021, 13:40 UTC |
| RMS release | 20 November 2021, 16:01 UTC |
| Time berthed | 100 days |
| Cargo | |
| Mass | 3,723 kg (8,208 lb) |
NASA Cygnus NG-16 mission patch | |
Orbital ATK (now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems) 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 Services (COTS) program, Orbital ATK designed, acquired, built, and assembled these components: Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced spacecraft using a Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) provided by industrial partner Thales Alenia Space and a Service Module based on the Orbital GEOStar satellite bus.