AIRCRAFT supply carrier, production of aerospace company Northrop Grumman, arrives in Space Station International (ISS) on Thursday (12/8). The plane, the Cygnus, carried 3,700 kilograms of cargo, the largest ever, to the orbiting laboratory.
Cygnus was captured by NASA astronaut Meghan McArthur with the station’s robotic arm. He directed the plane to dock in the station’s Unity module. The plane was then bolted into place.
The supplies sent to the ISS include simulation materials for lunar dust and soil that will be used to make items from the ISS 3D printing machine.
The experiment is designed to explore how building materials might someday be made from resources found on the moon or Mars.
This is Cygnus’ 16th mission for NASA. The plane arrived after being launched on an Antares rocket last Tuesday from Wallops, NASA’s aviation facility in Virginia. The supply plane will remain on the ISS for about three months and return to Earth in November.
Also Read: Space Station Supply Launched, There’s Pizza Making Equipment
The payload, which weighed about 3,700 kilograms, included fresh apples, tomatoes and kiwis, along with packages to prepare pizza and cheese supplies for the seven space station astronauts.
This is Northrop Grumman’s 16th supply to the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) by weight.
The space station currently houses three Americans, two Russians, one French, and one Japanese.
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