Orbital ATK’s seventh cargo delivery flight to the International
Space Station launched at 11:11 a.m. EDT April 18, 2017, on a United Launch
Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station in Florida.
Credits: NASA TV
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The International Space Station will be capable of dozens of new
scientific investigations from NASA and around the world when Orbital ATK's
Cygnus spacecraft delivers more than 7,600 pounds of cargo Saturday, April 22.
Orbital ATK’s seventh cargo delivery flight to the station
launched at 11:11 a.m. EDT Tuesday on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket
from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Expedition 51 astronauts Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space
Agency) and Peggy Whitson of NASA will use the space station’s robotic arm to
grapple Cygnus, about 6:05 a.m. Saturday. The spacecraft will remain at the
space station until July before its destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere,
disposing of several thousand pounds of trash.
This is the fourth flight of an enhanced Cygnus spacecraft, and
the third using the Atlas V launch system. The spacecraft for this mission is
named in honor of John
Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. Glenn, who died in December at
age 95, was one of NASA's original seven astronauts and a retired U.S. Senator
from Ohio.
The mission, which is under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services
contract, will support dozens of new and existing investigations as Expeditions
51 and 52 contribute to approximately 250 science and research studies.
Highlights from the new experiments will include studies on
cancer-fighting drugs, crystal growth and atmospheric reentry.
In microgravity, cancer cells grow in 3-D, spheroid structures
that closely resemble their form in the human body, enabling better tests for
drug the efficacy. The ADCs
in Microgravity investigation tests drugs designed as targeted cancer
therapies called antibody-drug conjugates, developed by Oncolinx. These
conjugates combine an immune-activating drug with antibodies and target only
cancer cells, which could potentially increase the effectiveness of
chemotherapy and reduce side-effects. Results from this investigation could
help inform treatments for cancer patients and provide insight into how
microgravity affects a drug’s performance.
The Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA)
investigation originally was operated successfully aboard the station in 2002.
Updated software, data acquisition, high definition video and communication
interfaces will help advance understanding of the processes involved in
semiconductor crystal growth. Investigations such as the CLYC
Crystal Growth experiment will be conducted in the SUBSA Furnace and
inserts. High-quality crystals are essential to a variety of applications, and
a microgravity environment can produce better quality crystals. CLYC crystals
grown aboard station can help researchers understand the exact conditions
needed to produce the highest-quality, defect-free crystals.
The Thermal Protection Material Flight Test and Reentry Data
Collection (RED-Data2)
investigation studies a new type of recording device that rides alongside a
spacecraft as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere, recording data about the extreme
conditions it encounters. Scientists, so far, have been unable to monitor those
conditions on a large scale, and a better understanding could lead to more
accurate spacecraft breakup predictions, better spacecraft designs, and
materials capable of better resisting the extreme heat and pressure during the
return to Earth.
For more than 16 years, humans have lived and worked continuously
aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and
demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on
Earth that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep
space. A global endeavor, more than 200 people from 18 countries have visited
the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 1,900 research
investigations from researchers in more than 95 countries.
Learn more about Orbital ATK's mission at:
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