Orbital Sciences Corp had reached another milestone after its Cygnus capsule successfully completed on Tuesday an ISS test mission, paving the way for more resupply missions for NASA.
On September 18, Cygnus was launched on the Antares rocket also owned by Orbital Sciences. With the success of this mission, the company has cleared the Virginia-based company for a NASA contract that will allow it to handle cargo runs.
From the International Space Station, two astronauts launched the Cygnus capsule into outer space after dismantling it from the docking port.
"This test flight went pretty much without any hiccups at all," said Josh Byerly, a NASA mission commentator.
The unmanned Orbital Sciences' capsule together with the supplies arrived at the station safely after 11 days. The capsule successfully brought around 590kg of supplies and cargo to the space station.
"Congratulations to the teams at Orbital Sciences and NASA who worked hard to make this demonstration mission to the International Space Station an overwhelming success," NASA Head Charles Bolden said.
Now, Cygnus will soon return to Earth carrying packs of space garbage and trash.
This is the second successful mission launched by the Orbital Sciences. The first of which was also the Antares rocket's début on April 21.
The company is also scheduled to launch another mission this coming December. This cargo run for NASA's ISS is the first out of the eight supply missions it needs to undertake under the NASA contract.
According to Chairman and Chief Executive of Orbital Sciences, David Thompson, "With two really good launches under our belt, things are picking up in terms of customer interest."
Like its rival Space Exploration Technologies or SpaceX, Orbital Sciences is also looking at other market opportunities for their rockets, aside from its main customer NASA.
