The Orbital Science Cygnus Orb 1 unmanned freighter spacecraft which resupplied astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has now been detached from the Harmony module and deliberately re-entered into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Over a month after the NASA -funded commercial mission docked with the space station’s Harmony module on 12 January 2014, Cygnus Orb 1 was initially detached/undocked at 1015 GMT on 18 February. This undocking was performed using space station’s Canadarm 2 robot arm which then later fully released Cygnus Orb 1 from its grip at 1141 GMT. on the same day.
After its release, the Cygnus Orb 1 spacecraft eased itself away from the space station using its own thrusters. On the following day, the craft made two braking rocket engine burns to deliberately re-enter itself into the Earth’s atmosphere. Re-entry took place at 1820 GMT on 19 February with any surviving debris falling as planned into a safe landing zone in the Pacific, East of New Zealand.
