NG-17 was the sixth Cygnus mission under the Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract.
Production and integration of Cygnus spacecraft are performed in Dulles, Virginia. The Cygnus service module is mated with the pressurized cargo module at the launch site, and mission operations are conducted from control centers in Dulles, Virginia and Houston, Texas.6
Main article: Cygnus (spacecraft)
This was the twelfth flight of the Enhanced-sized Cygnus PCM.78 Northrop Grumman named this spacecraft after Piers Sellers, in celebration of his role in assembling the International Space Station.9
Cygnus spacecraft is loaded with 3,651 kg (8,049 lb) of research, hardware, and crew supplies.1011
Aside from the orbital delivery, Cygnus performed the program's first operational reboost of the ISS. The space station's orbit needs to be changed from time to time as it naturally falls back in Earth's atmosphere.12 The ISS will change its attitude by about 90 degrees before executing the Cygnus reboost on 18 June 2022.1314
On 20 June 2022 at 15:20 UTC, Cygnus NG-17 gimbal engine was scheduled to fire for 5 minutes and 1 second but the firing was aborted after 5 seconds.15
On Saturday, June 25, 2022 at 17:42 UTC, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus completed its first limited reboost of the International Space Station. Cygnus’ gimbaled delta velocity engine was used to adjust the space station’s orbit through a reboost of the altitude of the space station. The maneuver lasted 5 minutes, 1 second and raised the station’s altitude 1/10 of a mile at apogee and 5/10 of a mile at perigee.16
"NASA Commercial Resupply Mission NG-17". Northrop Grumman. 26 January 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2022. https://www.northropgrumman.com/space/nasa-commercial-resupply-mission-ng-17/ ↩
"NASA Invites Media to Northrop Grumman's February Launch from Virginia". NASA (Press release). 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-invites-media-to-northrop-grumman-s-february-launch-from-virginia ↩
Gebhardt, Chris (1 June 2018). "Orbital ATK looks ahead to CRS-2 Cygnus flights, Antares on the commercial market". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 27 December 2020. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/06/orbital-atk-crs2-cygnus-flights-antares-commercial/ ↩
"Northrop Grumman "optimistic" to receive more NASA cargo mission orders". Spaceflight Now. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020. https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/10/01/northrop-grumman-optimistic-to-receive-more-nasa-cargo-mission-orders/ ↩
"Cygnus Spacecraft". Northrop Grumman. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2020. https://www.northropgrumman.com/space/cygnus-spacecraft/ ↩
"NASA Orders Two More ISS Cargo Missions From Orbital ATK". SpaceNews. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2020. http://spacenews.com/nasa-orders-two-more-iss-cargo-missions-from-orbital-atk/ ↩
"Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply". ISS Program Office. NASA. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/northrop-grumman.html ↩
"Overview for Northrop Grumman's 17th Commercial Resupply Mission". ISS Program Office. NASA. 14 February 2022. Archived from the original on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. https://web.archive.org/web/20220214230234/https://www.nasa.gov/content/overview-for-northrop-grummans-17th-commercial-resupply-mission/ ↩
Elizabeth Howell (19 February 2022). "Northrop Grumman rocket launches Cygnus cargo ship on 2-day trip to space station". Space.com. https://www.space.com/space-station-cygnus-ng-17-cargo-ship-launch ↩
@NASA (23 February 2022). "@RaffaeleDiPalma Yes, the @Space_Station will change its attitude by about 90 degrees before executing a Cygnus reboost" (Tweet) – via Twitter. https://x.com/NASA/status/1496613836161441796 ↩
"Schedule of ISS flight events (part 2)". forum.nasaspaceflight.com. Retrieved 16 June 2022. https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32006.msg2376422#msg2376422 ↩
"Cyguns Reboost Aborted, Next Steps Being Planned". 20 June 2022. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2022/06/20/cygnus-reboost-aborted-next-steps-being-planned/#.YrCqN3OOxmY.twitter ↩
Garcia, Mark (25 June 2022). "Cygnus Cargo Craft Fires Engine for Limited Station Reboost". blogs.nasa.gov. Retrieved 25 June 2022. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2022/06/25/cygnus-cargo-craft-fires-engine-for-limited-station-reboost/ ↩