Expedition 70 Northrop Grumman CRS-19 Cygnus Cargo Craft Departs Space Station - Dec. 21, 2023

The unpiloted Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft for the company’s 19th commercial resupply services mission for NASA was released from the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm Dec. 22 by flight controllers on the ground in Houston, Texas. Cygnus launched on Aug. 1 on an Antares rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, beginning its flight to the International Space Station. Following an early Jan. deorbit engine firing, Cygnus will begin a destructive re-entry in which the spacecraft, filled with trash, will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.