The
Cygnus spacecraft is an American
automated cargo spacecraft developed by
Orbital ATK as part of
NASA's
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) developmental program. It is designed to transport supplies to the
International Space Station (ISS) following the retirement of the American
Space Shuttle. Since August 2000
ISS resupply missions have been regularly flown by
Russian Progress (spacecraft), as well as by the
European Automated Transfer Vehicle, and the
Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. With the Cygnus spacecraft and the
SpaceX Dragon, NASA seeks to increase its partnerships with domestic commercial aviation and aeronautics industry.
Cygnus is the Latinized Greek word for swan and a northern constellation.
Not including its demonstration flight, Cygnus has been launched five times, with one, Cygnus CRS Orb-3, suffering a launch failure. Although designed to be launched by Orbital ATK's Antares rocket from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, damage to the launch pad caused by the Orb-3 failure led to two Cygnus missions being moved to Atlas V rockets launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Cygnus was renewed for the second round of the Commercial Resupply Services in 2016.
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Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov (December 30, 1906 - January 14, 1966) was a Soviet rocket engineer and is widely regarded as the founder of the Soviet space program. In July 1932, Korolev was appointed chief of Jet Propulsion Research Group, GIRD, one of the earliest state-sponsored centers for rocket development in the USSR. In 1933, the group was reorganized into the Jet Propulsion Research Institute, RNII, where Korolyov worked as Deputy Chief of the institute. At RNII, Korolyov led the development of cruise missiles and of a manned rocket-powered glider. He also participated in the development of the Tu-2 bomber, a major aircraft of the Soviet Air Force during World War II. In 1945, he was commissioned into the Red Army, with a rank of colonel and, along with other rocket experts, he was flown to Germany to gather information on the German V-2 rocket. Korolyov worked on the R-1 missile which was a replica of the German V-2 ballistic missile. In 1947 the NII-88 group under Korolyov began working on more advanced designs, with improvements in range and throw weight. This led to the R-2 and R-3 ballistic missiles and finally the R-7 ICBM. He successfully convinced the Soviet leaders to fund the Sputnik program. The actual development of Sputnik was performed in less than a month. Finally on 4 October 1957, launched on a rocket that had only successfully launched once, the satellite was placed in orbit. This was followed by the launch of Sputnik 2 and 3. Korolyov's planning for a manned mission had begun back in 1958, when design studies were made on the future Vostok spacecraft. After the success of Vostok, Korolyov planned to move forward with Soyuz spacecraft that would be able to dock with other craft in orbit and exchange crews. For the moon race, Korolyov's staff designed the immense N1 rocket. He also had in work the design for the Soyuz manned spacecraft, as well as the Luna vehicles that would soft land on the Moon and unmanned missions to Mars and Venus. But, unexpectedly, he was to die before he could see his various plans brought to fruition. (Full article...)
