After separation from the station, the device will remain in orbit for a little less than a month
NEW YORK, November 17th. /tass/. The undocking from the International Space Station of the American Cygnus cargo ship of Northrop Grumman Corporation, which delivered 3.7 tons of payloads to the station in August, is scheduled for November 20. This was announced on Tuesday on its website by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
"The Cygnus unmanned spacecraft of Northrop Grumman Corporation will leave the ISS on Saturday, November 20," the message says. The spacecraft is scheduled to be undocked at 11:00 am US East Coast time (19:00 Moscow time). The operation will be carried out from Earth, while its progress will be monitored by the European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer, who arrived at the ISS last week.
It is noted that after separation from the station, the device will remain in orbit for a little less than a month and with the help of special sensors will transmit information about the thermal protection of the ship, after which on December 15 it will activate the engine and head to Earth, where, together with the garbage and waste loaded into it from the ISS, it will burn up in dense layers of the atmosphere.
This Cygnus, which was given the name of the first American astronaut with Asian roots to go into space, Allison Onizuki (1946-1986), docked to the station on August 12. On board were a 3D printer, which uses a material simulating the Moon's soil to test the possibility of its use in the construction of various structures in future space missions, an apparatus for cleaning the air from carbon dioxide on spacecraft using new technologies, a mounting bracket, as well as supplies for the station crew and consumables.
