Orbital's Cygnus Spacecraft Successfully Docks with Space Station [VIDEO]

The unmanned spacecraft 'Cygnus', the first of several booked commercial supply missions by Orbital Sciences Corp., has successfully docked with the International Space Station on Jan. 12, NASA announced.

The supply spacecraft that arrived at the space station on Jan.12 is carrying dozens of new science experiments from across the world to the orbiting laboratory. A NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins and an astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Koichi Wakata, led the docking mission. The astronauts grabbed the supply spacecraft at 6.08 a.m. EST and it was later attached to the space station's Harmony node at 8.05 a.m.

The hatch opening is scheduled for Monday, after which the Expedition 38 crew members will begin unloading the 2,789 pounds of supplies aboard the supply ship Cygnus.

The 2,780 pounds of cargo consist of crew provisions, hardware, spare parts and important science experiments. Twenty three science experiments have been devised by students. One of the investigations will look at the reduced effectiveness of antibiotics during spaceflights. Another will examine how various samples of fuel will burn in microgravity.

Launched aboard Orbital's Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A, the supply spacecraft is due to remain attached to the Harmony until February, after which it will prepare for a self destructive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. The arrival of Cygnus marks the first successful contracted cargo delivery by Orbital Sciences.

Orbital's Cygnus is also carrying an ant farm aboard. The Commercial Generic Bio-processing Apparatus Science Insert-06 (CS1-06) is generally referred to as Ants in Space. In this experiment, a comparison will be drawn on how ant behavior in normal gravity differs from that in microgravity conditions, reports IB Times.

Orbital is one of the two companies hired by NASA for resupply missions as a part of the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Service Program (COTS). The first company was spaceX- Dragon spacecraft. As a part of the $1.9 billion contract, Orbital will undertake eight resupply missions. The next mission for Orbital is scheduled for May 1.