On July 13, 2014, Orbital Sciences Corp. conducted successful launch of Antares launch vehicle with Cygnus cargo spacecraft from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad 0A at Wallops Island, Virginia, within Orbital-2 (Orb-2) Mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Rendezvous of Cygnus with the orbital station is scheduled for Wednesday, July 16, approximately at 12:39 CEST.

Cygnus spacecraft carries 1493.8 kg of the following science and research, crew supplies, vehicle hardware and spacewalk tools cargo:

- Crew Supplies (764.2 kg):

· Crew care packages;

· Crew provisions;

· Food.

- Vehicle Hardware (355.1 kg):

· Crew Health Care System hardware;

· Environment Control and Life Support equipment;

· Electrical Power System hardware;

· Extravehicular Robotics equipment;

· Flight Crew Equipment;

· PL Facility;

· Structural & Mechanical equipment;

· Internal Thermal Control System hardware.

- Science Investigations (327.0 kg):

· CubeSats and deployers;

· Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Dynamic Surf Hardware;

· Human Research Program resupply.

- Computer Resources (8.1 kg):

· Command and Data Handling;

· Photo and TV equipment.

- Extra vehicular activity (spacewalks) equipment (39.4 kg).

CubeSats that was launched aboard Cygnus include 28 so-called “Doves” 3U earth remote sensing CubeSats of Planet Labs’ Flock-1b, and TechEdSat-4 technology and education 1U CubeSat made by San Jose State University, University of Idaho and NASA Ames Research Center. They will be deployed from the ISS by means of NanoRacks’ special equipment.

Interesting to note that after deployment of Flock-1b total number of Planet Labs’ spacecraft on orbit will reach 71, i.e. more than employees of this San-Francisco-based company. Also, only 4 countries (US, Russia, China, Japan), ESA, and 3 companies (Globalstar, Iridium, Intelsat) have launched more than 70 satellites, what proves really remarkable achievement of Planet Labs and highly emphasizes opportunities of CubeSat era.

Antares rocket’s 1st stage is made by Ukrainian Yuzhnoye Design Office / Yuzhmash Plant and powered by liquid oxygen + kerosene Aerojet Rocketdyne’s AJ-26 engines, which are modified Russian-built NK-33 engines. 2nd stage is solid-fuel Castor 30 engine developed by ATK. Cygnus spacecraft’s pressurized cargo module is manufactured in Turin (Italy) by Thales Alenia Space and the service module is based on Orbital Sciences-made STAR spacecraft bus as well as components from the Dawn spacecraft.

Cygnus will spend approximately one month attached to the space station, at which point the crew will detach it from the Harmony module before its release. The spacecraft will dispose of approximately 1,360 kg of trash during its fiery demise upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.