Following its delivery demonstration mission, the Cygnus Cots Demo 1 mission craft has now been released from the International Space Station. After the latches holding the Cygnus Cots Demo 1 spacecraft to the ISS were opened, the station’s robot arm unberthed the Harmony module at 1016 GMT The module was held away and released at 1131 GMT. As planned an abort signal was sent to trigger the craft to move away from the space station to a safe distance. The spacecraft which had been filled with refuse by the astronauts will be re-entered on 23 October. NASA has contracted Orbital Sciences for eight more delivery missions to the International Space Station.
The full commentated timeline of the release is available at www.spaceflightnow.com
Post Script/Update: The Cygnus Cots Demo 1 cargo craft re-entered the atmosphere at 1815 GMT on 23 October as planned. Most of the spacecraft burned up with any remaining debris falling into the Pacific Ocean near New Zealand.
