Wednesday morning witnessed the successful berthing of Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus spacecraft at the International Space Station. The spacecraft which was carrying 3300 pounds of cargo including small satellites and student experiments was launched on Sunday evening and at 3:00 am ET the spacecraft made its approach to the station. The entire berthing sequence was completed at 8:53 am.
The cargo delivery by Orbital stems from a $1.9 billion contract with NASA and this was the second out of eight total deliveries that Orbital will provide under the contract. The spacecraft is to remain attached with the station till August 15 when it will be filled with trash and released to burn in earth’s atmosphere.
The craft was named after a former NASA astronaut and Orbital employee, SS Janice Voss who passed away in 2012.
The ISS Commander Steve Swanson stated that Janice was a seventh crew member who had just joined them and talked about how Janice Voss devoted her life to space. He said that Janice’s legacy continued in space through the spacecraft.