NASA International Space Station Supply Ship Returns to Earth with Burning Garbage

After a five-week visit to the International Space Station, the Cygnus spacecraft has been released today by NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins and it will burn as it rips through the Earth's atmosphere tomorrow.

The sole mission of the commercial cargo ship was to deliver 3,000 pounds of goods to the astronauts aboard the International Space Station and take back trash and other unused goods to free up some space. Michael Hopkins used the space station's big robot arm to release Cygnus, which is going to vanish over the Pacific by tomorrow.

Back in 2008, the Orbital Sciences Corporation developed Cygnus after NASA had announced a competition for the development of a cargo delivery spacecraft. Orbital Sciences won the competition and were rewarded with a $1.9 billion contract that lasts through 2016 in which 20 tons of goods will be delivered to the ISS in eight Cygnus spacecraft flights. This Cygnus flight was launched on January 12^th and was the first flight orchestrated under the contract.

The six-man crew aboard the ISS received food, belated Christmas gifts, and hundreds of ants for an ongoing student experiment. NASA also has a contract with Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) to deliver supplies to the ISS. Aside from the two U.S. contracts, Russia, Japan and other European countries plan to make supply deliveries to the station.

SpaceX has planned 50 future launches with both commercial and government customers. Their next challenge is to develop a spacecraft that will carry space station crews. American astronauts have not launched from U.S. soil since 2011, when NASA retired space shuttle missions after 30 years of operations. Now, NASA is relying on contracts and scheduled launches with other companies such as Orbital Sciences Corp. and SpaceX.

The next scheduled cargo delivery is on March 16^th, when SpaceX plans to launch its "Dragon" spacecraft from Cape Canaveral in Florida. This launch will deliver more goods, collect trash from the ISS, and return the experimental ants back to the U.S. Although these cargo deliveries are tightly scheduled and ready for launch, NASA believes that it will not be until 2017 when U.S. astronauts are sent into orbit again.

To read more about Cygnus, the ISS, Orbital Sciences Corp, and SpaceX, visit this Washington Post article.