WASHINGTON, October 22 (RIA Novosti) – The Cygnus cargo spacecraft developed by private US company Orbital Sciences undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) Tuesday and headed toward Earth, where it will break up as it re-enters the atmosphere Wednesday, successfully completing the inaugural flight by an Orbital spacecraft, NASA said in a statement.
“Cygnus will fire its engines for the last time at 1:41 pm EDT (1741 GMT) Wednesday and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere for a fiery destruction over the Pacific Ocean,” which is expected to occur around 50 miles (75 kilometers) above Earth, NASA said.
After re-entry, the mission will be reviewed by Orbital and NASA, with experts predicting that it will be deemed a success that paves the way for other spacecraft developed by Orbital to take turns ferrying supplies up to the ISS.
Orbital has already judged the inaugural Cygnus flight a success that was “executed in textbook fashion by the joint NASA and Orbital teams,” David Thompson, Orbital’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement released when the spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS.
Cygnus launched into space on Sept. 18 on Orbital's Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia carrying 1,300 pounds (590 kilograms) of supplies to the ISS. It docked with the space station 11 days later after delays caused by a technical glitch and the arrival at the space station of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying new crewmembers to the ISS.
Cygnus left the space station on Tuesday carrying trash from the ISS, which will burn up during re-entry.
Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Virginia has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to deliver supplies to the ISS with at least eight Cygnus spacecraft, according to NBC News.
Orbital’s next Cygnus spacecraft is being prepped at Wallops for a scheduled December launch to the ISS.
