Astronomy and Space

Cygnus NG-20

NG-20 was the twentieth flight of the Cygnus, an expendable American cargo spacecraft used for International Space Station (ISS) logistics missions that launched on 30 January 2024 and was deorbited on 13 July 2024. It was operated by Northrop Grumman under a Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. The spacecraft was an Enhanced Cygnus, named the S.S. Patricia "Patty" Hilliard Robertson in honor of the NASA astronaut who died in a plane crash prior to being assigned to a crew to fly to the ISS. NG-20 was the first launch of a Cygnus spacecraft after Northrop Grumman exhausted the supply of its Antares 230+ rocket. The Antares used a Russian-built engine and Ukrainian-built first stage, and production ceased after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Northrup Grumman expects its next-generation Antares 300 rocket that does not depend on Ukrainian or Russian parts to be ready to fly NG-23. As an interim solution, Northrop Grumman contracted with its CRS competitor SpaceX to launch NG-20, 21 and 22 using its Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket. With the launch of NG-20, Cygnus became the only cargo freighter to launch on four different orbital launchers, that is, Antares rocket (100 series), Atlas V, Antares 200 series and Falcon 9. The rocket’s first stage, B1077, made its 10th flight on this mission.

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See also

• ▸Kepler-18
• ▸Khufu Statuette
• ▸31 Leonis

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