Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft successfully launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, but a little while later, NASA reported an issue with the uncrewed vehicle as it headed to the International Space Station (ISS) with 8,200 pounds of supplies.
“Shortly after launch, the spacecraft missed its first burn slated for 11:44 a.m. due to a late entry to burn sequencing,” NASA said in a message on its website on Sunday.
It said the procedure, known as a “targeted altitude burn,” or “TB1,” was rescheduled for a bit later, but then aborted after the engine ignited because of a slightly low initial pressure state.
“There is no indication the engine itself has any problem at this time,” the space agency said.
Cygnus is reported to be at a safe altitude, and Northrop Grumman engineers are working on a new burn and trajectory plan.
NASA said that the current aim is to achieve the spacecraft’s original ISS docking time of 3:10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, August 6.
With a record of mostly flawless flights over its 11-year history, news of a problem with Cygnus will come as a surprise to many who follow its missions. But engineers linked to the current flight are clearly confident that they can get the Cygnus spaceship to the ISS without any serious complications.
Cygnus is carrying with it a variety of science experiments, as well as spacewalk equipment, vehicle hardware, and computer resources for the ISS crew. Digital Trends has more information on the gear that it’s transporting to the orbital outpost.