Canadarm2 Releases Cygnus XL Spacecraft Ending Cargo Mission

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL was released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm at 7:06 a.m. EDT, after being detached from the International Space Station’s Unity module Earth-facing port.

At the time of release, the station was flying about 260 miles over the south Atlantic Ocean.

The Cygnus XL spacecraft successfully departed the space station more than seven months after arriving at the orbiting laboratory to deliver about 11,000 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware and other cargo for NASA and its international partners.

The spacecraft will be commanded to deorbit on Saturday, March 14, to dispose of several thousand pounds of trash during its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will harmlessly burn up. Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts. Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here.

canadarm2, cygnus xl, northrop grumman, iss, unity module, nasa, deorbit, re-entry, cargo mission, south atlantic