{"id":9746,"date":"2025-09-16T19:04:50","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T11:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-northrop-grumman-postpone-cygnus-xl-arrival-to-iss-following-propulsion-issue\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T19:04:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T11:04:50","slug":"nasa-northrop-grumman-postpone-cygnus-xl-arrival-to-iss-following-propulsion-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-northrop-grumman-postpone-cygnus-xl-arrival-to-iss-following-propulsion-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA, Northrop Grumman postpone Cygnus XL arrival to ISS following propulsion issue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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File (Aug. 6, 2024) \u2014 Northrop Grumman\u2019s Cygnus cargo craft, with its prominent cymbal-shaped UltraFlex solar arrays, is pictured awaiting its capture by the Canadarm2 robotic arm commanded by Expedition 71 Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick of NASA. The maneuver marked the 50th free-flying capture for the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Image: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Northrop Grumman\u2019s new Cygnus XL spacecraft will no longer dock with the International Space Station Wednesday morning as originally planned.<\/p>\n

In a blog post Tuesday evening, NASA announced that two, orbit-raising burns of the spacecraft\u2019s main engine \u201cstopped earlier than planned.\u201d The agency didn\u2019t state how much of the planned burns were able to be performed prior to the premature shutdowns.<\/p>\n

NASA also didn\u2019t indicate what may have caused the engine to not perform as expected. <\/span><\/p>\n

While mission managers review plans to conduct the remaining rendezvous maneuvers, the agency said, \u201cAll other Cygnus XL systems are performing normally,\u201d but didn\u2019t offer further details.<\/p>\n

NASA astronaut Jonny Kim was originally scheduled to capture the Cygnus XL spacecraft at 6:35 a.m. EDT (1035 UTC) alongside fellow NASA astronaut Zena Cardman. Kim is tasked with commanding the Canadarm2 robotic arm to attach to the vehicle while it\u2019s about 10 meters (32.8 ft) from the ISS.<\/p>\n

The Cygnus XL spacecraft, named the S.S. William \u2018Willie\u2019 C. McCool <\/i>launched from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 6:11 p.m. (2211 UTC) on Sunday, Sept. 14. The cargo ship successfully separated from the rocket\u2019s upper stage more than 14 minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n

NASA reported that the vehicle was able to deploy its two solar arrays roughly an hour and a half after departing from the space coast.<\/p>\n

A day before that launch, an uncrewed Russian Progress vehicle arrived at the space station on Saturday on a planned cargo supply run.<\/p>\n

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SpaceX launches its Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sept. 14, 2025. The rocket carried Northrop Grumman\u2019s first Cygnus XL spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station dubbed NG-23. Image: Michael Cain \/ Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What\u2019s at stake?<\/h4>\n

This mission, NASA\u2019s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23 or NG-23 for short, is the debut of the Cygnus XL. As the name suggests, it\u2019s a larger version of the Cygnus spacecraft. It\u2019s about 1.6 meters (5.2 ft) longer and can support about 2,600 pounds of additional cargo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got 33 percent more capacity than the prior Cygnus spacecraft had,\u201d said Ryan Tinter, vice president of Civil Space Systems for Northrop Grumman prior to the launch. \u201cObviously, more may sound like better, but it\u2019s really critical because we can deliver significantly more science as well as we\u2019re able to deliver a lot more cargo per launch, really trying to drive down the cost per kilogram to NASA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cygnus XL is carrying more than 11,000 pounds (4,990 kg) of food, science and supplies onboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NG-23 vehicle is packed with consumables, like nitrogen, oxygen, food and toilet parts. And it has a large number of spare parts that are required for systems, for example, like our urine processor,\u201d said Dina Contella, the deputy manager of NASA\u2019s ISS Program, during a prelaunch briefing on Friday. \u201cWe\u2019re stocking up on these items since we were short over the past year and we\u2019d like to have a good reserved for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Technicians use a crane to lift Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft\u2019s pressurized cargo module out of the shipping container on Thursday, July 10, 2025, inside the Space Systems Processing Facility at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The new extended Cygnus capsule, which launched Sept. 14, 2025, will carry supplies, food, and scientific experiments for crew members at the International Space Station as part of the company\u2019s 23rd cargo resupply mission. Image: NASA \/ Cory S. Huston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA had to shuffle its planned cargo schedule early this year due to another Cygnus spacecraft. The vehicle earmarked for the NG-22 mission was damaged while being shipped from Northrop Grumman\u2019s facilities in Virginia down to NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n

That mission was scheduled to launch in June 2025, so to compensate, NASA adjusted the cargo load on SpaceX\u2019s CRS-32 mission to \u201cadd more consumable supplies and food to help ensure sufficient reserves of supplies aboard the station.\u201d The agency also pulled SpaceX\u2019s CRS-33 and the NG-23 missions forward on the schedule to close the gap between cargo runs to the ISS.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, what we\u2019ve done historically is we like to have four months of supplies onboard. And the goal is really, if you have a problem with the next mission, if for some reason that can\u2019t fly, you can make it to the mission after that,\u201d said Dana Weigel, manager of NASA\u2019s ISS Program, following the Aug. 1 launch of the Crew-11 mission to the space station.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Northrop Grumman found the spacecraft problem on the NG-22 and realized that it couldn\u2019t fly this year, we quickly adjusted the SpaceX 32 mission. It was unfortunate we had to pull off quite a bit of research, but what I did was load it up with food and water and other consumables,\u201d she explained. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t quite get me where I need to be to handle skipping a mission. Once I get [SpX-33] up there, then I\u2019ll be closer to the position where if my next flight doesn\u2019t make it, then I can get all the way to the one after. So, that\u2019s really the strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SpX-33 mission, also referred to as CRS-33, successfully launched from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral on Aug. 24 and autonomously docked to the space station less than 29 hours later on Aug. 25.<\/p>\n

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A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft with its nosecone open and carrying over 5,000 pounds of science, supplies, and hardware for NASA\u2019s SpaceX CRS-33 mission approaches the International Space Station for an automated docking to the Harmony module\u2019s forward port on Aug. 25, 2025. Both spacecraft were flying 261 miles above the Atlantic Ocean south of the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago, at the time of this photograph. Image: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not the first CRS mishap<\/h4>\n

Northrop Grumman and SpaceX are the two U.S. companies currently delivering cargo to the ISS as part of the Commercial Resupplies Services 2 contract with NASA. Sierra Space was also awarded a CRS-2 contract for a minimum of seven uncrewed cargo missions to the ISS with its Dream Chaser spaceplane. However, it has not launched yet and it remains unclear when it\u2019s first launch will occur.<\/p>\n

To date, SpaceX completed 31 flights with one Cargo Dragon vehicle currently on station. Northrop Grumman has successfully completed 20 cargo flights. Both companies experienced in-flight anomalies early in their flight history.<\/p>\n

SpaceX launches its Dragon spacecraft with its Falcon 9 rockets. Northrop Grumman is also using the Falcon 9 to get to orbit while it continues development of its Antares 330 rocket in partnership with Firefly Aerospace. Its first launch is anticipated in 2026.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the next cargo mission on the schedule, following the planned arrival of the NG-23 Cygnus XL, is another new spacecraft called the HTV-X. It is being supplied by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with support from the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).<\/p>\n

The HTV-X is scheduled to launch on an H3 rocket from Japan on Oct. 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File (Aug. 6, 2024) \u2014 Northrop Grumman\u2019s Cygnus cargo craft, with its prominent cymbal-shaped UltraFlex solar arrays, is pictured awaiting its capture by the Canadarm2 robotic arm commanded by Expedition 71 Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick of NASA. The maneuver marked the 50th free-flying capture for the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Image: NASA Northrop Grumman\u2019s new Cygnus […]<\/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":[980,717,190,981,554],"class_list":["post-9746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-cygnus-xl","tag-international-space-station","tag-nasa","tag-ng-23","tag-northrop-grumman"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9746"}],"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=9746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}