Cygnus Orb-4 (CRS4) - Atlas V 401 - Canaveral SLC-41 - 06.12.2015 21:45 UTC

[triage]

из ленты НК

Очередной грузовой транспортный корабль SignusCygnus (OA-4), который планируется запустить 3 декабря нынешнего года с мыса Канаверал с помощью ракеты-носителя Atlas-5, получит собственное имя "Дик Слейтон" (Deke Slayton).
Имя Слейтона носил и другой корабль SignusCygnus (Orb3), который разбился во время аварии ракеты-носителя Antares 28 октября 2014 года.
Будем надеяться, что второму Слейтону повезет больше, чем первому

с предположением такого имени писали тут
 http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/iss/oa-4-cygnus-spacecraft-also-named-deke-slayton/


просто фото из большой статьи отсюда (там открывается в очень большом размере) https://spaceflightnow.com/2015/10/25/bags-are-packed-inside-cygnus-commercial-cargo-freighter/


тут назвали так
 http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/cygnus-pcm-e.htm
Cygnus CRS-4 (OA 4, SS Deke Slayton 2)

[che wi]

pnetmon пишет:
Очередной грузовой транспортный корабль Signus (OA-4)...
/.../
Будем надеяться, что второму Слейтону повезет больше, чем первому

Также будем надеяться, что в ленте НК не будут коверкать название корабля. Не какая-нибудь там лента.ру всё-таки  
Или Сигнус, или Cygnus. Но не Signus.

[Salo]

http://www.ulalaunch.com/atlas-v-to-launch-oa4.aspx?title=Atlas+V+to+Launch+OA-4+Mission+for+Orbital+ATK+and+NASA&Category=2

Atlas V to Launch OA-4 Mission for Orbital ATK and NASA


Rocket/Payload: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 will launch Orbital ATK's Cygnus™ spacecraft on the initial leg of its cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Date/Site/Launch Time: Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The mission will launch during a 30-minute window that opens at approximately 6 p.m. EST.

Mission Description: Cygnus is a low-risk design incorporating elements drawn from Orbital ATK and its partners' existing, flight-proven spacecraft technologies. Cygnus consists of a common Service Module (SM) and a Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM). The SM is assembled and tested at Orbital ATK's Dulles, Virginia, satellite manufacturing facility and incorporates systems from Orbital ATK's flight-proven LEOStar™ and GEOStar™ satellite product lines. The PCM is based on the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), developed and built by Thales Alenia Space of Italy.

The Cygnus spacecraft for the OA-4 mission is the first to employ the longer, "enhanced," PCM which can carry a greater volume of cargo than the PCM flown on previous missions, and lightweight UltraFlex arrays developed and built by Orbital ATK's Goleta, California, facility.

Launch Notes: OA-4 will mark the 60th launch of the Atlas V and the 30th launch in the 401 configuration. It also marks ULA's first mission supporting ISS cargo resupply.

Launch Updates: To keep up to speed with updates to the launch countdown, dial the ULA launch hotline at 1-877-852-4321 or join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch, twitter.com/ulalaunch and instagram.com/ulalaunch; hashtags #Cygnus, #OA4 and #AtlasV

Go Atlas! Go Centaur! Go OA-4!

[Salo]

https://twitter.com/OrbitalATK/status/661614156395753472

Orbital ATK Подлинная учетная запись ‏@OrbitalATK
The latest pics of #Cygnus processing for the #OA4 cargo mission in Dec. show spacecraft prep for encapsulation.
 
 
 
 
 10:41 - 3 нояб. 2015 г.

[G_old_Truman]

Какой ракетный двигатель нынче Лебедя запускать будет? Вместо прошлогоднего? Пару слов накарябайте, плиз...

[Nilk]

G_old_Truman пишет:
Какой ракетный двигатель нынче Лебедя запускать будет? Вместо прошлогоднего? Пару слов накарябайте, плиз...

Так на Атласе же запускают, значит РД-180

[Salo]

https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/662286055257739264

Jeff Foust ‏@jeff_foust  
Scimemi: Orb-4 is scheduled for launch Dec. 3, but could be moved up a day or so; being worked now with ULA.
  7:11 - 5 нояб. 2015 г.

[triage]

NASA Kennedy / KSC ‏@NASAKennedy  20 ч20 часов назад.
@OrbitalATK Cygnus spacecraft propellant loading complete, clearing way for late cargo stow over the coming weekend


Ролик мисии

Опубликовано: 19 окт. 2015 г.
Frank DeMauro Vice President of Orbital ATK's Human Space Systems Programs provides an overview of the OA-4 mission to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.

[Salo]

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/5-Status_of_ISS.pdf
 

[Salo]

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/cygnus-starts-final-round-of-processing-for-station-cargo-delivery

Nov. 10, 2015
Cygnus Starts Final Round of Processing for Station Cargo Delivery

By Anna Heiney
 NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
The next U.S. cargo delivery to the International Space Station is steadily progressing toward launch.
An Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft is at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida undergoing a final round of prelaunch preparations for its December liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. This will be Orbital ATK's fourth commercial resupply flight to the station and will carry more than 7,000 pounds of supplies, equipment and research to keep the station stocked and capable of serving as a platform for studies off the Earth, for the Earth.
The Atlas first-stage booster arrived Nov. 8 aboard the United Launch Alliance barge, the Delta Mariner.
The uncrewed Cygnus spacecraft comprises a pressurized cargo module and an attached service module housing the onboard propulsion system and twin power-producing solar arrays.
Processing began with the Aug. 10 arrival of the Cygnus pressurized module, followed by the service module about two months later. Both were delivered by flatbed truck to Kennedy's Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF). The pressurized module was loaded with cargo Oct. 19 and 20, rotated to vertical and mated to the service module on Oct. 22, clearing the way for the journey to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.
The PHSF has played host to a variety of planetary probes, as well as the Hubble Space Telescope and Orion spacecraft – but Cygnus marks another first.
"This is the first time a spacecraft bound for ISS has processed within this facility," said Launch Site Integration Manager Mark Shugg.
The spacecraft's arrival in the PHSF high bay kicked off a series of processing steps beginning with the loading of the spacecraft's propellants, hydrazine and an oxidizer. In the coming days, it will be rotated into the horizontal position, allowing Orbital ATK engineers and technicians to load late-stow cargo items into the pressurized module. Finally, Cygnus will be returned to vertical and sealed within the Atlas V payload fairing, an activity slated for Nov. 17.
At that point, its next stop is Space Launch Complex 41.
"This has been an extremely accelerated process, to get from an initial starting point early this year and be at the point of accepting them into our facility. We accomplished in a few months what we would normally do in two years of preparation for our typical Launch Services Program spacecraft customers," Shugg said.
"We are very happy to extend the use of our facility to this cause. There is no other facility on [Kennedy Space Center] property that has the capability to perform the hazardous processing that is required for this mission," he added.
This mission marks the first flight of the Cygnus since Oct. 28, 2014, when the company's Antares rocket suffered a catastrophic anomaly resulting in the loss of the spacecraft and its cargo shortly after liftoff from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
"With a new customer like Orbital ATK/Cygnus, there is a learning curve from both sides as we develop a working relationship. Working on such a tight schedule has caused the teams to immerse themselves in each other's culture and develop that relationship quickly," Shugg said.
Kennedy teams were flexible and responsive as Orbital ATK adapted to the condensed timeline, according to ISS Launch Support Project Manager Randy Gordon.
"They had to move their spacecraft, equipment, people and overall operations to this new location in an extremely short time," Gordon explained.
"It was good having them in the SSPF," he added. "They have a lean workforce, but they worked hard and stayed on schedule."
While the Cygnus is readied for flight, the Atlas V rocket is coming together as well. The vehicle's Centaur upper stage was trucked to the Horizontal Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Oct. 27.
The Atlas booster and Centaur will be joined together on the launch pad in time for the arrival of the payload fairing on Nov. 20 – leaving Cygnus poised for liftoff on a new voyage to deliver eagerly awaited supplies and research to the orbiting laboratory.


The Cygnus spacecraft arrives in the high bay at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). In the background are the two halves of the Atlas V payload fairing.
Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett
 
[IMG ]https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/231523.jpg[/IMG]
Engineers and technicians load equipment aboard the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft.
Credits: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
 

The Cygnus spacecraft lowers into position atop its service module.
Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett
 

The Centaur upper stage slated to help deliver the next U.S. cargo delivery to the International Space Station is transported to the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center near Space Launch Complex 41 from the Horizontal Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 37.
Credits: Photo credit: Jim Grossmann
 

A transporter carrying the Orbital ATK Cygnus pressurized module exits the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin the move to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.
Credits: NASA/Dan Casper

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/11/11/stacking-starts-for-atlas-5-cargo-run-to-space-station/

Stacking starts for Atlas 5 cargo run to space station with Cygnus       
Posted on November 11, 2015 by Justin Ray

The mission poster. Credit: ULA
 
CAPE CANAVERAL — United Launch Alliance today began stacking its first Atlas 5 rocket to fly in service to the International Space Station, a commercial mission to send supplies to the orbiting complex.
This launch, planned for Dec. 3, and another targeted for March 10, are precursors to the much larger role the Atlas 5 rocket will begin playing in International Space Station operations starting in 2017. That is when the Atlas will begin launching astronauts to the station inside Boeing-built Starliner space capsules for NASA.
But first up will be unmanned cargo-delivery flights using Orbital ATK Cygnus freighters. The two rides aboard Atlas rockets were purchased by Orbital ATK as gap-fillers while working in parallel to return its Antares booster to flight by mid-2016.
As the Cygnus undergoes final preparations across the river at Kennedy Space Center, crews at Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 this morning brought the Atlas 5 rocket's first stage to the Vertical Integration Facility and put the vehicle on stand.
The rocket, designated AV-061, will launch in the basic, 401-variant that features an RD-180 main engine powering the first stage and an RL10 on the Centaur upper stage. The Cygnus will be enclosed in a 14-foot-diameter aluminum nose cone for atmospheric ascent.
The stacking work began as the bronze-colored, 106.6-foot-long, 12.5-foot-diameter first stage was pulled to the Vertical Integration Facility doorway, erected upright and hoisted inside the building to be put aboard the mobile launcher platform.
The stage arrived at the Cape from ULA's Alabama factory via ocean-going ship over the weekend.
Known as the Common Core Booster, the stage produces 860,000 pounds of thrust to lift the rocket off the ground. It burns kerosene fuel and supercold liquid oxygen during the initial minutes of flight.
Upcoming, the barrel-like interstage adapter and Centaur upper stage will be lifted in place. Centaur is 41.5 feet in length, 10 feet in diameter and is fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
The payload will be encapsulated in the nose cone at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility on Nov. 16 and delivered to the VIF for attachment to the launch vehicle on Nov. 20.
Earlier in November, Cygnus was fueled with its maneuvering propellants and the last cargo items in the "late-stow" category were packed aboard.
Liftoff on Dec. 3 will be possible during a 30-minute launch window opening around 5:55 p.m. EST (2255 GMT). That will send Cygnus on a course to rendezvous with the station on Dec. 6 at about 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT).
The launch will be the 60th Atlas 5 rocket since 2002 and its 13th commercial flight. For United Launch Alliance, it is the company's 103rd launch overall since 2006 and the 12th this year.

[Salo]

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html#.VkV8Wr_B7ct

[/li]
• 4:30 p.m., Thursday, December 3 - Coverage of the Launch of the Orbital Sciences/ATK Cygnus CRS-4 Mission from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida (Launch scheduled at 5:55 p.m. ET; coverage will end shortly after spacecraft separation from the Centaur Upper Stage at appx. 6:16 (all channels)
• 6:30 p.m., Thursday, December 3 - Coverage of the Deployment of the Solar Arrays on the Orbital Sciences/ATK Cygnus CRS-4 Cargo Craft (Solar Array deployment is initiated at appx. 6:50 p.m. ET and is complete by appx. 7:08 p.m. ET) (Starts at 6:45pm) (all channels)
• 8 p.m., Thursday, December 3 - Orbital Sciences/ATK Cygnus CRS-4 Post-Launch News Conference (time subject to change) (all channels)
• 4 a.m., Sunday, December 6 - Coverage of the Rendezvous and Grapple of the Orbital Sciences/ATK Cygnus CRS-4 Cargo Craft at the ISS (Grapple scheduled at 5:30 a.m. ET) (all channels)
• 7 a.m., Sunday, December 6 - Coverage of the Installation of the Orbital Sciences/ATK Cygnus CRS-4 Cargo Craft to the Unity Module of the ISS (Starts at 7:15am) (all channels)
  

[Salo]

anik пишет:
4 декабря 01:55 - запуск Cygnus (OA-4)
6 декабря 13:30/~15:15 - захват и пристыковка Cygnus (OA-4) к нижнему узлу модуля Unity манипулятором SSRMS

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/11/14/station-bound-cargo-ship-shown-to-press-before-launch/

Station-bound cargo ship shown to press before launch       
Posted on November 14, 2015 by Justin Ray   
          
The Orbital ATK's Cygnus commercial resupply spacecraft, named the SS Deke Slayton II, is packed up and poised for launch to the International Space Station.
Engineers showed the vessel to local reporters and photographers at the Kennedy Space Center's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility on Friday. It will be encapsulated in the Atlas 5 rocket's 14-foot diameter aluminum nose cone on Monday and moved to the United Launch Alliance vehicle integration facility next Friday for mating to the booster.
Liftoff is planned for approximately 5:55 p.m. EST (2255 GMT) on Dec. 3.
Cygnus is carrying 7,383 pounds of provisions for the International Space Station, not counting packing materials. The total mass with packing is 7,745 pounds.
The spacecraft, which stands 21 feet tall and 10 feet in diameter, will weigh 16,517 pounds at launch, the heaviest payload ever for an Atlas rocket.
Photos: Alex Polimeni / Spaceflight Now

[Salo]

https://twitter.com/flatoday_jdean/status/665237536441151488

James Dean Подлинная учетная запись ‏@flatoday_jdean  
Orbital ATK has named OA-4 Cygnus spacecraft the "S.S. Deke Slayton II"; failed Orb-3 mission was Slayton I.
  10:39 - 13 нояб. 2015 г.

[che wi]

Spaceflight Now ‏@SpaceflightNow  5h ago

Photos of Atlas 5 first stage being erected onto mobile launch platform for Dec. 3 cargo flight for space station

[Salo]

https://twitter.com/flatoday_jdean/status/666327169157697537

James Dean Подлинная учетная запись ‏@flatoday_jdean  
At KSC, OA-4 Cygnus has been encapsulated in its Atlas V payload fairing; rolls to pad early Friday.
  10:49 - 16 нояб. 2015 г.  

[Salo]

https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/666062634899398657

https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67530.jpg[/IMG] Spaceflight Now ‏@SpaceflightNow [/URL]
Elements of Atlas 5 and Cygnus cargo spacecraft, set to launch Dec. 3 for the space station [url=https://t.co/36KINrShci]http://spaceflightnow.com/tag/av-061/ 
 
 
 17:18 - 15 нояб. 2015 г.

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/11/18/atlas-5-flights-to-station-enjoy-longer-launch-windows/

Explained: Why Atlas 5 will have longer windows for station flights       
Posted on November 18, 2015 by Justin Ray

Atlas 5 launch. Credit: ULA
 
CAPE CANAVERAL — Expanding a single instant in time to 30 minutes, the upcoming United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets with Cygnus cargo-delivery freighters bound for the International Space Station will have an unprecedented opportunity available to launch each day.
The first of two such launches in a 100-day span fr om Cape Canaveral, known as the OA-4 mission for Orbital ATK, is scheduled for Dec. 3. The pair of flights will deliver over 15,000 pounds of supplies to the outpost.
The timing for a launch to the station, flying 250 miles above the Earth, is dictated by getting into the orbital plane of the complex for a rendezvous.
"Instantaneous launch windows are the standard way to accomplish a rendezvous mission with a low-earth object like the ISS, and this approach can significantly lim it the probability of an on-time launch," said Jim Sponnick, ULA's vice president for Atlas and Delta programs.
"A mission like this needs to be delivered to the right orbit, including precise timing relative to the ISS, to enable a timely rendezvous between the Cygnus and the ISS."
The SpaceX Falcon 9, Russian Soyuz, European Ariane 5 and Japanese H-2B rockets all have instantaneous launch windows for space station missions, giving them a split second each day to fly or else scrub.
The now-retired space shuttle had 10 minutes and the Orbital ATK Antares rocket has had between five and 10 minutes.
That leaves little time to wait for a stray rain shower to pass by, a technical gremlin to be resolved or a boat in restricted waters to be chased away.
But it will be a bit different for the Dec. 3 flight of the Atlas 5 from Cape Canaveral and another cargo mission for the rocket coming up March 10.
The performance of the Atlas 5 will produce a 30-minute launch window each day.
"It is all about available energy to steer you to the right place," said Dan Tani, a former astronaut who spent 120 days living and working aboard the station on Expedition 16 and now Orbital ATK's manager of mission and cargo operations.
"There is an ideal launch moment, and that's what SpaceX targets. A lot of other launch vehicles use excess performance to not have to hit a moment and use that energy to steer to the right place.
"Atlas has so much available energy that they can accommodate what I consider a very large, off-nominal time of launch — 15 minutes early, 15 minutes late. That is a lot of steering, but they have that capability and they are the ones that came to us and asked if they could have that margin. And it gives them a lot of flexibility around weather, around the unknowns."
Sponnick added: "The ULA team always strives to implement longer launch windows in our mission designs, to maximize the probability of a first-day launch for our customers. We have been enhancing our mission design capabilities and operational processes for years in order to make good use of the launch vehicle performance to provide the flexibility to accomplish launch window objectives.
"These enhancements include the development of steering algorithms to compensate for the rotation of the Earth relative to the orbital target."
The launch window on Dec. 3, based on current projections, opens at approximately 5:55:41 p.m. EST (2255:41 GMT). That will be upd ated based on radar tracking of the International Space Station and determination of its precise orbit.
"For the OA-4 mission, the ULA mission design team has worked very closely with the Orbital ATK team to provide a design approach that enables a longer launch window. The OA-4 launch design approach accounts for the fact that the ISS orbit can change shortly before the launch, if either an overall orbit adjustment or evasive debris mitigation maneuver is required," Sponnick explained.
"Considering the capabilities inherent in the Atlas design, the late changes that can occur in the ISS orbit, and the close coordination with the Orbital ATK Cygnus rendezvous design, we have implemented a 30-minute long window, which will occur within a bounding 50-minute-long window that accounts for the potential late orbital changes for the ISS."
Taking everything into account, the launch team will se t five discrete launch opportunities — one at the opening of the launch window and four other shots spaced at 7.5 minute intervals.
* 5:55:41 p.m. EST
 * 6:03:11 p.m. EST
 * 6:10:41 p.m. EST
 * 6:18:11 p.m. EST
 * 6:25:41 p.m. EST
 *times are approximate
"We target the first launch opportunity. We've made that decision because there is no benefit in waiting for the middle of the window," Tani explained.
"Since they have the energy, we aren't losing anything, they don't drop us off lower (in altitude) at the edges of the window than at the middle of the window. They drop us off at the same place. So it's in our interest to get flying as soon as possible, so we're targeting the beginning of the window."
And getting off the ground as soon as possible has other considerations, too.
"December is an extremely busy time for the space station. There's a lot of comings and goings with the Russian vehicles. So that restricts our ability to approach. Right now, launch dates of (Dec.) 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th are fantastic. Anything after that we would really have to do some head-scratching and some desk-pounding to figure out when we would approach the space station," Tani said.
December 3
 Launch: 5:55:41 p.m. EST
 ISS arrival: Dec. 6
December 4
 Launch: 5:33 p.m. EST
 ISS arrival: Dec. 7 or 8
December 5
 Launch: 5:10 p.m. EST
 ISS arrival: Dec. 9
December 6
 Launch: 4:44 p.m. EST
 ISS arrival: Dec. 19
One other scenario is, if the flight is delayed, the Cygnus could launch later and then hang around in orbit for a couple of weeks before the rendezvous.
"We have a couple weeks of loiter capability, so that's in our box of tricks. But right now, if we miss the 6th, we would have to wait almost a month to get to the station," Tani said.
One of the Russian Soyuz capsules at the station will relocate from one docking port to another on Dec. 11. Three new residents launch aboard another Soyuz on Dec. 15 and a Progress cargo ship goes up Dec. 21 and docks Dec. 23. Three station residents undock Dec. 21 for landing.
There's also a solar-angle blackout period for the Cygnus to launch from Christmas Eve through Jan. 3.

[SFN]

Это про то, что РД-180 ну очень сильный движок?