The Cygnus spacecraft arrives at the International Space Station with a single working solar array

SS Sally Ride It is docked safely at the International Space Station following an impressive flight in which one of the two solar arrays failed to deploy.

Northrop Grumman’s expendable cargo ship was launched Monday, November 7, carrying 8,200 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station. On its way to the orbiting space station, however, the Cygnus capsule fails to spread One of two solar arrays, which collect energy for its journey through space. Northrop Grumman collects data on the deployment of the second array and works closely with NASA. Wrote In a blog post on Monday.

Despite having one solar system fully exposed, the Cygnus spacecraft arrived safely at the International Space Station on Wednesday at 5:20 a.m. ET, according to NASA. Blog post. When the cargo capsule approached the station, NASA astronaut Nicole Mann used Canadarm2 . robotic arm To catch the vehicle and maneuver it towards the docking port of the station. This is it Standard procedure to capture Cygnus and not as a result of solar panel anomalies.

The 55-foot (17 m) Canadian arm features a “hand” that astronauts use to hold objects and even the International Space Station itself. After Mann drove the robotic arm from inside the International Space Station, ground controllers took over to steer and dock the capsule into the station’s Module Module, NASA Wrote.

G/O Media may get commission

*lightsaber hum*

SabersPro

For the Star Wars fan with everything.
These lightsabers powered by Neopixels, LED strips that run inside the blade shape that allow for adjustable colors, interactive sounds, and changing animation effects when dueling.

A reason for the malfunction has not yet been disclosed. “To remain focused on the spacecraft’s arrival at the station, Northrop Grumman and NASA made the determination not to deploy the second solar array after initial attempts to deploy it were unsuccessful,” the space agency said.

This is Northrop Grumman’s 18th resupply mission to the ISS as part of its Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA, in which it delivers crew supplies, equipment, and science experiments to the orbiting station. The NG-18 Cygnus spacecraft was named after Sally Ridethe first American woman to arrive Space, a feat I accomplished in 1983.

The charging capsule delivered a variety payload It includes a 3D printer to generate human tissue, an experiment on growing plants in space, and the first satellites developed by Uganda and Zimbabwe. The cargo ship will remain attached to the International Space Station until it catches fire Disposal into Earth’s atmosphere in january.

more: Webb Telescope’s mid-infrared webcam is back in full operation after an alarming glitch