{"id":11387,"date":"2022-07-19T19:28:27","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T11:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/supply-chain-issues-delay-northrop-grummans-next-space-station-cargo-flight\/"},"modified":"2022-07-19T19:28:27","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T11:28:27","slug":"supply-chain-issues-delay-northrop-grummans-next-space-station-cargo-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/supply-chain-issues-delay-northrop-grummans-next-space-station-cargo-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Supply chain issues delay Northrop Grumman\u2019s next space station cargo flight"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft in the grip of the International Space Station\u2019s Canadian-built robotic arm June 28, just prior to the cargo freighter\u2019 departure. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Northrop Grumman\u2019s next resupply flight to the International Space Station has been delayed from mid-August to mid-October by supply chain issues, a company spokesperson said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The 18th flight of a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to the space station, known as NG-18, will launch on an Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia. NASA\u2019s Commercial Resupply Services contract with Northrop Grumman extends through the NG-25 mission scheduled for 2026.<\/p>\n

The NG-18 mission was scheduled to launch in mid-August on a mission to deliver several tons of supplies and experiments to the space station.<\/p>\n

Josh Dinman, a Northrop Grumman spokesperson, said the NG-18 launch delay is \u201cmainly due to supply chain issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cygnus spacecraft\u2019s pressurized cargo module, built by Thales Alenia Space in Italy, has been delivered to the launch site at Wallops Island on Virginia\u2019s Eastern Shore, and processing of the Antares launch vehicle for the NG-18 mission continues at the launch site, Dinman said.<\/p>\n

The Cygnus service module is undergoing final testing at Northrop Grumman\u2019s satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles, Virginia, according to Dinman.<\/p>\n

NASA officials acknowledged the delay last week, but deferred to Northrop Grumman when asked about details on the reason for the schedule slip.<\/p>\n

Northrop Grumman\u2019s Antares rocket uses Russian-made engines and Ukrainian booster cores. The war in Ukraine has raised questions about the future of the Antares rocket program, but Northrop Grumman officials said earlier this year the company has hardware in its inventory for two more Antares resupply launches late this year and in early 2023.<\/p>\n

But Northrop Grumman needs additional hardware deliveries from Russia for Antares launches beyond NG-19 next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have what we need for the next two launches,\u201d said Kathy Warden, Northrop Grumman\u2019s president and CEO, in an April earnings call. \u201cSo there isn\u2019t immediate disruption, and we have a plan in place that we could use other sources if needed, beyond those two launches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warden did not discuss the backup options available to Northrop Grumman, but the company has launched Cygnus cargo missions on United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas 5 rocket in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our preference to keep the relationship intact between Russia and the U.S. around the space station, and that\u2019s what these rocket motors are used for \u2014 to take cargo to the International Space Station,\u201d Warden said. \u201cBut we are working closely with NASA to make sure we\u2019re following the U.S. government lead in that case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Biden administration has limited imports of Russian products to the United States, but the order\u2019s impact on a critical civilian space program \u2014 like the resupply of the space station \u2014 is unclear. Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of Russia\u2019s space agency, said in March that Russia was halting the export of rocket engines to the United States.<\/p>\n

Rogozin was dismissed as the chief of Russia\u2019s space agency last week.<\/p>\n

Two Russian RD-181 engines power the first stage of the Antares rocket. The first stage cores for the Antares rocket are built by Yuzhmash in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft in the grip of the International Space Station\u2019s Canadian-built robotic arm June 28, just prior to the cargo freighter\u2019 departure. Credit: NASA Northrop Grumman\u2019s next resupply flight to the International Space Station has been delayed from mid-August to mid-October by supply chain issues, a company spokesperson said Tuesday. The 18th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}