AlHijjah 18, 1434, Oct 23, 2013, SPA -- A private U.S. company completed a successful test mission at the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, clearing Orbital Sciences Corporation to start regular cargo supply missions for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under a $1.9 billion contract. Using the space station's robotic arm, astronauts aboard the ISS grabbed the Orbital Sciences Cygnus capsule from its docking port and released the unmanned capsule into space. Cygnus was launched on September 18 aboard an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket from a new commercial spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia. The capsule arrived at the ISS 11 days later. Docking was delayed a week due to a spacecraft communications issue and the higher priority arrival of new station crew members aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule. Cygnus is scheduled to make two braking maneuvers Wednesday to lose altitude so it can be pulled into Earth's atmosphere by the planet's gravity and burned up. The capsule, which carried nearly 600 kilograms of cargo to the ISS, was loaded with trash and unnecessary items before its release. Orbital Sciences is the second of two U.S. companies hired by NASA to fly cargo to the ISS following the retirement of the U.S. space-shuttle program. Rival Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) started work for the U.S. space agency about 18 months before Orbital Sciences.
