Cygnus cargo spacecraft launched to ISS

Northrop Grumman's Cygnus cargo spacecraft was successfully launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, NASA said.

The spacecraft blasted off on an Antares 230 Rocket with about 7,400 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew, after launching at 4.01 a.m. EST on Saturday from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore, the US space agency said in a statement.

It is Northrop Grumman's 10th cargo delivery flight, and is scheduled to arrive at the orbital laboratory on Monday.

The Cygnus spacecraft will remain at the space station until February before its destructive re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, disposing off several thousand pounds of trash.

The spacecraft for this mission is named in honour of astronaut John Young who was selected for NASA's second astronaut class and flew during the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programmes. He walked on the Moon during Apollo 16 in 1972 and commanded the first space shuttle mission in 1981. Young passed away in January.

--IANS

rt/mag/bg