Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons, a novel and a memoir. Visit him at DanzigerCartoons.
Washington (AFP) — Orbital Sciences Corporation’s unmanned Cygnus cargo ship left the International Space Station Friday on its way to a fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
The spacecraft was released from the orbiting lab at 6:40 a.m,. NASA said in a live broadcast of the event.
“Cygnus is free of the International Space Station,” a NASA commentator said.
The spaceship will stay in orbit until Sunday morning, when it will fire its engines and push its way into Earth’s atmosphere.
The de-orbit burn is scheduled for 8:33 a.m. Sunday and the spacecraft should burn up at 9:11 a.m.
The crew on board the space station plans to document the spacecraft’s plasma trail.
The cargo ship launched July 13 and arrived at the ISS three days later, bearing a load of 3,653 pounds of gear, food, and science experiments.
The resupply mission is part of a billion dollar contract with NASA for multiple journeys to the ISS.
AFP Photo/Bill Ingalls
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Washington (AFP) — Orbital Sciences Corporation’s unmanned cargo ship arrived Wednesday at the International Space Station carrying a load of food and equipment for the six-man crew at the research outpost.
The vessel called Cygnus was grabbed by the space station’s robotic arm at 6:36 am (1036 GMT) and will complete its latch-on operation to the ISS in about two hours, NASA said.
The spacecraft launched from Wallops Island, Virginia on Sunday.
Astronauts are scheduled to open the hatch on Thursday, but they may do so as early as Wednesday if the work of bolting the cargo ship to the orbiting lab goes faster than planned.
American astronaut Steve Swanson operated the orbiting lab’s robotic arm to pull the cargo ship closer, in preparation for berthing around 1230 GMT, NASA said.
The spacecraft is packed with 3,653 pounds (1,657 kilograms) of gear for the space station, including a new set of satellites, experiments for growing arugula in space, and a pump for the Japanese module to replace one that failed.
The mission, known as Orb-2, is the second of eight that Orbital has contracted with NASA, and is the third journey by a Cygnus to the International Space Station after a successful demonstration trip last year.
Orbital Sciences and SpaceX are the two private U.S. companies that have won major contracts with NASA for multiple missions to carry supplies to the International Space Station.
Orbital’s deal is worth $1.9 billion and SpaceX’s contract is for $1.6 billion.
Orbital’s cargo ships burn up on reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, unlike SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which makes an intact splash landing in the ocean.
NASA lost its capacity to reach the space station after the 30-year space shuttle program ended in 2011.
SpaceX and Orbital now make regular resupply journeys with their unmanned cargo ships. Europe and Russia also have their own spaceships that can tote equipment and provisions to the research outpost.
In order for astronauts to get there, nations must buy seats aboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, at a cost of $70.7 million each. The spaceship carries three people at a time.
Several American companies are competing to be the first to complete a crew vehicle that will restore U.S. access to the station in the next few years.
AFP Photo / Bill Ingalls
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Paris (AFP) — In space, no-one can hear you scream ‘GOOAAALLL!’
But this did not deter German and U.S. astronauts from facing off in a zero-gravity kickabout aboard the International Space Station (ISS) ahead of their countries’ earthly World Cup encounter.
A video released by the European Space Agency (ESA) on Thursday shows Alexander Gerst of Germany and NASA’s Reid Wiseman and Steve Swanson showing off crowd-stunning bicycle kicks and saves made easier by the weird, weightless conditions of low orbit.
Not once was there a problem getting the ball to float into the penalty area as the astronauts defied gravity to score while floating head-down.
On the downside, they sometimes found themselves suspended helplessly between floor and ceiling while trying in vain to intercept their opponent.
Gerst was clad in the jersey of die Mannschaft while Wiseman wore a Team USA shirt. A U.S. space robot, Robonaut 2, got into the spirit of things, waving its arms to egg on the game.
A 53-second snippet of the encounter, played just for laughs with a child-sized soft ball, can be seen on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq3iZbV9s6Ys.
AFP Photo
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