Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation ("NGSC") hereby submits this request for extension of Special Temporary Authority (“STA”) issued under Call Sign WX9XKA (File No. 0881-EX-ST-2024) for the NG-21 Cygnus spacecraft mission. Due to anticipated changes to the date of spacecraft departure from the ISS, NGSC is requesting an extension to April 1, 2025 to account for the additional operating time prior to re-entry.The existing temporary authorization is set to expire on January 30, 2025. The Cygnus spacecraft was originally scheduled to depart from the ISS on January 20, 2025 with re-entry planned two days later. Due to ISS scheduling constraints and changes, the original departure date is no longer expected to be met, and Cygnus will remain attached to the ISS past the expiration date of the current STA. To allow for the continued operation of Cygnus while berthed to the ISS after January 30, 2025 and the subsequent departure and re-entry operations, NGSC is requesting an STA extension to ensure the Cygnus spacecraft is licensed for the duration of these operations.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation ("NGSC") hereby submits this request for extension of Special Temporary Authority (“STA”) issued under Call Sign WX9XKA (File No. 2235-EX-ST-2024) for the NG-21 Cygnus spacecraft mission. Due to anticipated changes to the date of spacecraft departure from the ISS, NGSC is requesting an extension to May 7, 2025 to account for the additional operating time prior to re-entry. The existing temporary authorization as previously extended is set to expire on April 2, 2025. The Cygnus spacecraft departure date from the ISS is currently set for March 28, 2025 with re-entry planned two days later. However, due to ISS scheduling constraints and the potential for future delays due to vehicle and weather changes, NGSC and NASA are requesting an extension past this date to allow for mission flexibility.
Due to updates to the ISS flight program related to the move of the Crew-10 launch and Crew-9 return to earlier in March, NASA needs to slip the NG-21 planned release to 28 March 2025. With the potential for further vehicle and weather delays associated with Crew-10 and Crew-9 missions there remains a risk that the NG-21 release could slip to sometime in April. The NG-21 release schedule was discussed at the 11 February 2025 ISS Operations TagUp where the ISS Program Operations Integration Manager requested that the ISS and NG teams be prepared to slip the NG-21 departure into April to maintain ISSP flexibility.
Date March 21, 2025Time 11:15 UTCCoverage of the Release of the Northrop Grumman “SS Richard ‘Dick’ Scobee Cygnus NG-21 Cargo Craft from the International Space Station (Release scheduled at 7:35 a.m. EDT).
One more spacecraft is due to depart the International Space Station this week as the Cygnus space freighter nears the end of its cargo mission that began on Aug. 4, 2024. The uncrewed, trash-filled Cygnus is due to be removed by the Canadarm2 robotic arm from the Unity module’s Earth-facing port then released into Earth orbit at 7:55 a.m. EDT on Friday. Cygnus will reenter Earth’s atmosphere above the South Pacific Ocean two days later for a fiery, but safe demise.
The Cygnus cargo craft is in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm and still attached to the Unity module’s space-facing port. Robotics controllers will remotely command Canadarm2 to detach Cygnus from Unity overnight then release it into Earth orbit at 6:55 a.m. EDT on Friday. NASA Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers will be on duty monitoring Cygnus as it departs the space station completing a seven-and-a-half-month stay at the orbital lab. NASA+ will begin its broadcast of Cygnus’ release and departure at 6:30 a.m.Ayers and fellow NASA astronaut Anne McClain finished packing Cygnus and configured the spacecraft for its removal on Thursday. The duo exited Cygnus, closed its hatch, conducted leak checks, then depressurized the vestibule, or the area in between Cygnus and the orbiting lab.
The Cygnus NG-21 cargo ship, S.S. Francis Scobee, departed ISS at 1055 UTC Mar 28 and was deorbited over the Pacific at about 1015 UTC Mar 30.
So long, @Space_Station! With 234 days attached to the station, NG-21 set a new record for longest #Cygnus cargo mission, passing NG-18’s stay by 71 days.
When a visiting vehicle leaves, there is some choreography to getting the vehicle and @Space_Station ready. One of those is configuring the vestibule, which is what we call the little hallway to the docked vehicle, for its departure. Through the vestibule runs power and data between station and the vehicle, and it also houses important docking mechanisms.Before Friday’s departure of the Northrop Grumman Cygnus-21 spacecraft, @Astro_Ayers and I worked to configure the vestibule for the operation. The parts that we were installing and configuring will be on the other side of the hatch in space, so it’s important to get it right.
