Cygnus 19" cargo spacecraft.
At 21:06 Beijing time on December 22, 2023 (the same Beijing time), Northrop Grumman's "Cygnus 19" cargo spacecraft was released from the "Canada Arm 2" robotic arm and evacuated from the International Space Station. Previously, the ground flight controller issued a command to the "Canada Arm 2" robotic arm of the space station to grab the spacecraft to unlock and separate from the radial port of the "Unity" node module. U.S. astronaut Loral O'Hara monitors the spacecraft's systems as it leaves the space station.
Before the spacecraft descended, space station astronauts loaded the Cygnus 19 spacecraft with trash and debris. Meanwhile, American astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli earlier installed the Saffire-VI experimental device inside Cygnus, which will be activated remotely after the spacecraft is evacuated to explore the fire safety of the spacecraft.
Laurel Clark
The Cygnus 19 cargo spacecraft was launched by the Antares launch vehicle at 08:31 on August 2 and was installed by a robotic arm on the radial port of the Unity node module at around 20:00 on August 4. On this trip, the spacecraft carried 3,785 kilograms of supplies to the space station. Northrop Grumman named the spacecraft after the late American astronaut Laurel Clark, who died in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident.
After evacuating the space station, the Cygnus 19 spacecraft will remain in orbit until early January 2024, and then re-enter the atmosphere for destruction.
Author: Mulan Xingzhou.