Orbital's Cygnus Cargo Module Arrives at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility

• Pressurized Cargo Module Built by Thales Alenia Space to be Flown on COTS Demonstration Mission in Early 2012

Dulles, VA - Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world's leading space technology companies, today announced that the first pressurized cargo module (PCM) for its Cygnus(tm) cargo logistics spacecraft has arrived at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. Following a transatlantic flight from its manufacturing location in Italy, the PCM was unloaded from the Antonov An-26 transport aircraft in its specialized shipping container and was brought to NASA's H-100 payload processing facility where it will be uncrated later this week and prepared for integration with the spacecraft service module. Together, the PCM and the service module will form the first operational Cygnus that will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) to carry out a demonstration mission under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) joint NASA and Orbital research and development program.

"The arrival of the first pressurized cargo module at Wallops is an important milestone for the Cygnus program, signifying that we are making great progress toward carrying out the COTS demonstration mission early next year," said Mr. Frank DeMauro, Orbital's Cygnus Program Manager. "With the first fully-assembled service module currently in testing at our Dulles, Virginia satellite design and production facilities, it won't be too long before both of the major elements are united at Wallops for final system integration, followed by integration with the Taurus II rocket that will launch Cygnus to the International Space Station."


The PCM was manufactured and tested by Thales Alenia Space (TAS) in Italy. Orbital selected TAS because of its unrivaled experience in designing and building pressurized space modules for the ISS. TAS is already well along in manufacturing and testing the next three PCM units for the Cygnus program, ensuring on-schedule deliveries of a critical element of the spacecraft. For the COTS demonstration and the first two operational Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) missions, the PCM is designed to carry approximately 2,000 kg of cargo. For later missions, an enhanced PCM will carry about 2,700 kg of cargo.

Source : Orbital Sciences Corp.