 Orbital and NASA jointly developed a new space transportation system to provide commercial cargo resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS).Under the Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) program, Orbital designed and built Antares, a medium-class launch vehicle; Cygnus, an advanced maneuvering spacecraft; and a Pressurized Cargo Module which is provided by Orbital's industrial partner Thales Alenia Space.The Cygnus spacecraft for this mission is named the S.S. "Alan Poindexter" in honor to astronaut Alan G. Poindexter, a deceased Space Shuttle commander.