NASA Offers Access to Cygnus Spacecraft Ahead of Next Space Station Mission

Media are invited to view and photograph Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft, packed with cargo and scientific experiments for its upcoming flight to the International Space Station, at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 18, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.

Media also will have an opportunity to speak with NASA and Orbital ATK officials about the targeted no earlier than Nov. 10 mission and the space agency’s effort to send supplies to the space station using commercial companies. The officials available at the event include:

Sam Scimemi, director for the International Space Station, NASA Headquarters, Washington
Rick Mastracchio, senior director of operations, commercial resupply services program, Orbital ATK, Dulles, Virginia
Kurt Eberly, vice president, Antares, Orbital ATK

To attend this event, media must apply for accreditation by contacting Keith Koehler at keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov by noon, Tuesday, Oct. 17. Accreditation is open only to media who are U.S. citizens.

Orbital ATK will make its eighth Cygnus cargo delivery to the International Space Station under its commercial resupply services contract with NASA. The resupply mission will launch on the company’s Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad 0A at Wallops.

Following the Cygnus viewing, media will have the opportunity to visit the upgraded Wallops Range Control Center.

For more information about Orbital ATK, the Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/orbitalatk

More information about the International Space Station is available online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/station