As the S.S. John Young (NG-10) Cygnus mission came to an end today, Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems is readying the final elements for the next Cygnus mission, NG-11 \u2013 which is scheduled to launch No Earlier Than 17 April 2019 on a flight that will complete NGIS\u2019s CRS1 commercial resupply services contract with NASA.<\/p>\n
The NG-11 mission will also debut several new features\/operations for Cygnus, some of which will fulfill NASA requirements for the upcoming six CRS2 contracted resupply missions.<\/p>\n
Completing the CRS1 contract:<\/b><\/p>\n
NG-11 will represent the fourth and final flight as part of the extended CRS1 contract NASA signed with Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS).<\/p>\n
The original CRS1 (Commercial Resupply Services 1) contract between Orbital (which then became Orbital ATK and then NGIS) called for seven Cygnus flights to the ISS; however, delays to the CRS2 contract awards and a need to ensure continued cargo access to the Station caused NASA to extend the CRS1 contract with NGIS for an additional four flights.<\/p>\n
Those were originally known as OA-8E, -9E, -10E and -11E, with the \u201cE\u201d signifying the \u201cExtended\u201d nature of missions in the CRS1 contract. When Northrop Grumman acquired Orbital ATK last year, the official mission designations for OA-9E (which was berthed to the Station at the time), -10E, and -11E missions changed to NG-9, -10, -11 respectively \u2013 dropping the \u201cE\u201d designation.<\/p>\n
With the end of the CRS1 contract upon them, Frank DeMauro, Vice President and General Manager, Space Systems Division, NGIS, reflected on this milestone to NASASpaceflight\u2019s Chris Gebhardt in a one-on-one interview.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n