Unmanned Cargo Ship Reaches ISS On Resupply Mission (telegraph.co.uk)

An anonymous reader writes: NASA partner Orbital ATK reports an unmanned cargo shipped has successfully docked at the ISS, delivering 7,900 lbs (3.6 metric tons) worth of supplies for the crew of six astronauts. The supplies consisted of food, water, clothes, and materials needed for scientific research such as a new 3D printer and Gecko Gripper. The operation was over by 1452 GMT as the space station's robotic arm, operated by crew members, captured Cygnus and guided it into its berthing port. Orbital has launched five supply missions to the ISS as part of a $1.9 billion contract with NASA. "Our flexible Cygnus spacecraft has a lot of work left to do. Following its stay at the ISS, and for the first time, we will undertake three experiments onboard the unmanned spacecraft," said Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK's Space Systems Group.

Comments

First post?

[KGIII]

That this is first post is awesome. It has been here for a while and nobody has commented.

Why is that awesome? It is so routine that we don't even get excited any more. I was a kid when we walked on the moon. Now, it's trivial to dock with a space station that's been in orbit for years and continuously occupied for the duration.

That's kind of neat. (I have no idea if this is still first post.)

Aren't almost all the deliveries unmanned ?

[Crashmarik]

The Progress-M has been doing this since the 90s. Is there something extra special about this delivery ?

Re: Aren't almost all the deliveries unmanned ?

[BarbaraHudson]

Not really. Orbital still needs to buy Russian engines. There's no tech like old tech. Should have stuck with the Saturn series and their proposed Saturn Heavy variants. Stupid space plane.