A private cargo spacecraft will depart the International Space Station (ISS) early Tuesday (June 28) and you can watch its departure live.
Northop Grumman’s robot swan The freighter is scheduled to undock from the orbiting lab Tuesday at 6:05 am EDT (1005). Watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or through the space agency directly; Coverage begins at 5:45 am EDT (0945 GMT).
The Swan – named SS Piers Sellersafter the late NASA astronaut and climate scientist – arrived at the International Space Station with more than 8,300 pounds (3,760 kilograms) of science experiments and other supplies on February 21.
International Space Station: Facts, History and Tracking
SS Piers Sellers leaves with a high note. Just about a day before its scheduled departure, the freighter fired its main engine to raise the ISS’ altitude. The maneuver was a milestone, demonstrating that the Cygnus spacecraft can handle ISS recharges previously performed by Russia’s robotic Progress spacecraft.
“This restart of the ISS with Cygnus adds a critical capability to help with station maintenance and support,” Steve Krein, Vice President, Civil and Commercial Space, Tactical Space Systems at Northrop Grumman, said in a statement (opens in new tab). “It also demonstrates the tremendous capabilities that Cygnus brings to the ISS and future space exploration efforts.”
The SS Piers Sellers will restart its engine Wednesday (June 29) in a deorbit burn, putting it on course for a destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. (Unlike SpaceX dragon Cargo pod, which is reusable, the Cygnus and Progress starships will burn up when their missions are complete.)
SS Piers Sellers was the 17th Cygnus to fly to the space station. The spacecraft’s departure comes just 10 minutes after another space event – the Launch of NASA’s CAPSTONE lunar mission, which is scheduled to lift off Tuesday at 5:55 a.m. EDT (0955 GMT) aboard an electron rocket. You can also watch this launch here on Space.com.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out there (opens in new tab)(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaelwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).