Astronomy and Space

Cygnus NG-21

NG-21 was the twenty-first flight of the Cygnus, an expendable American cargo spacecraft used for International Space Station (ISS) logistics missions, that launched on 4 August 2024 and was deorbited on 30 March 2025. It was operated by Northrop Grumman under a Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. The spacecraft was an Enhanced Cygnus, named the S.S. Francis R. "Dick" Scobee in honor of the NASA astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. NG-21 was the second 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. Northrop 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.

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See also

• ▸Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics
• ▸Lion Capital of Ashoka
• ▸IM-1

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