Main article: Cygnus (spacecraft)
OA-4 was the fourth of eight flights by Orbital ATK under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract with NASA and the inaugural flight of the larger Enhanced Cygnus PCM. The mission was originally scheduled for 1 April 2015.6 The Atlas V launch vehicle launched in the 401 vehicle configuration with a four-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single-engine Centaur upper stage.7
In an Orbital ATK tradition, this Cygnus spacecraft was named Deke Slayton II after Deke Slayton, one of NASA's original Mercury Seven astronauts and Director of Flight Operations, who died in 1993. This spacecraft reuses the name Deke Slayton, originally applied to the Orb-3 spacecraft which was lost in an Antares rocket explosion in October 2014.8
The mission was the first flight of the enhanced variant of Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft, capable of delivering more than 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) of essential crew supplies, equipment and scientific experiments to the International Space Station (ISS).
Total cargo: 3,349 kilograms (7,383 lb)910
Total cargo with packing material: 3,513 kg (7,745 lb)
Media related to Cygnus 5 at Wikimedia Commons
"Launch Schedule". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 26 January 2015. http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/ ↩
"International Space Station Flight Schedule". SEDS. 15 May 2013. http://spider.seds.org/shuttle/iss-sche.html ↩
Ray, Justin (6 December 2015). "Atlas 5 rocket sends Cygnus in hot pursuit of space station". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 7 December 2015. http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/12/06/atlas-5-rocket-sends-cygnus-in-hot-pursuit-of-space-station/ ↩
Ray, Justin (9 December 2015). "U.S. resupply of space station successfully resumes". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 9 December 2015. http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/12/09/u-s-resupply-of-space-station-successfully-resumes/ ↩
"At ~11 am ET today..." twitter.com. Orbital ATK. 20 February 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2016. https://twitter.com/OrbitalATK/status/701100449634582530 ↩
Graham, William; Bergin, Chris (28 October 2014). "Orbital's Antares fails seconds after launch". NASASpaceFight.com. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/10/antares-fails-shortly-after-launch/ ↩
"Orbital ATK's Cargo Delivery Mission to International Space Station Set to Launch". Orbital ATK. 1 December 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151208161633/https://www.orbital.com/news-room/release.asp?prid=103 ↩
"Orbital ATK CRS-4 Mission Overview" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2015. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305225937/http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/orbital_atk_crs-4_mission_overview.pdf ↩
"Low Earth Orbiting Navigation Experiment for Spacecraft Testing Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (LONESTAR)". NASA. Retrieved 12 December 2015. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/859.html ↩