Cygnus NG-20

NG-20

Cygnus S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson (NG-20), the spacecraft used in the mission, undergoing tests at Kennedy Space Center
Mission type	ISS logistics
Operator	Northrop Grumman
COSPAR ID	2024-021A
SATCAT no.	58898
Mission duration	121 days, 1 hour and 40 minutes (in progress)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson
Spacecraft type	Enhanced Cygnus
Manufacturer	Northrop Grumman Thales Alenia
Start of mission
Launch date	30 January 2024, 17:07:15 UTC[1]
Rocket	Falcon 9 Block 5 ♺, B1077.10
Launch site	CCSFS SLC-40
Contractor	SpaceX
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited
Decay date	July 2024 (planned)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Inclination	51.66°
Berthing at the International Space Station
Berthing port	Unity nadir
RMS capture	1 February 2024, 09:59 UTC
Berthing date	1 February 2024, 12:14 UTC
Time berthed	119 days, 6 hours and 33 minutes (in progress)
Cargo
Mass	3,726 kilograms (8,214 lb)
Pressurised	3,712 kilograms (8,184 lb)
Unpressurised	14 kilograms (31 lb)
Cygnus NG-20 mission patch Commercial Resupply Services ← SpaceX CRS-29 SpaceX CRS-30 →   Cygnus flights ← NG-19 NG-21 →

NG-20 is the twentieth flight of the Cygnus robotic resupply spacecraft and its seventeenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS). It launched on 30 January 2024.^[1][2][3][4] It was contracted to Northrop Grumman under the Commercial Resupply Services II (CRS-2) contract with NASA. The capsule launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Orbital ATK (now Northrop Grumman Space Systems) and NASA jointly developed a new space transportation system to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS). Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, Orbital ATK designed, acquired, built, and assembled the Cygnus, an advanced spacecraft using a Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) provided by industrial partner Thales Alenia Space and a Service Module based on the Orbital GEOStar satellite bus.^[5]

NG-20 is the first launch of a Cygnus spacecraft after the exhaustion of the supply of Antares rockets, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, losing both the Russian rocket engine supplier and the Ukrainian booster stage supplier. The next two Cygnus missions will also use Falcon 9, while subsequent missions will use the next-generation Antares 300 series that is under development, which does not depend on Ukrainian or Russian parts.^[6] Cygnus is the only cargo freighter to launch on four different orbital launchers, that is, Antares 100 series, Atlas V, Antares 200 series and Falcon 9 Block 5 rockets.