Cygnus CRS OA-7
| Mission type | ISS resupply |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | Enhanced Cygnus |
| Manufacturer |
Orbital Sciences Thales Alenia Space |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 16 March 2017 |
| Rocket | Atlas V 401 |
| Launch site | Caps Canaveral SLC-41 |
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
| Epoch | Planned |
| Berthing at ISS | |
| Berthing port | Harmony nadir or Unity nadir |
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NASA OA-7 mission patch
Cygnus CRS OA-7, also known as Orbital Sciences CRS Flight 7, is the eighth planned flight of the Orbital ATK unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its seventh flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. Orbital and NASA jointly developed a new space transportation system to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS). Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) program, then Orbital Sciences designed and built Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced maneuvering spacecraft, and a Pressurized Cargo Module which is provided by Orbital's industrial partner Thales Alenia Space.
The COTS demonstration mission was successfully conducted in September 2013, and Orbital commenced operational ISS cargo missions under the Commercial Resupply Service (CRS) program with two missions in 2014. Regrettably, the third operational mission, Orb CRS-3, resulted was not successful due to spectacular Antares failure during launch. The company decided to discontinue the Antares 100 series and accelerate the introduction of a new propulsion. The Antares system will be upgraded with newly built RD-181 first stage engines to provide greater payload performance and increased reliability.
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