What is it and what is this cargo freighter taking to the iss you’ll, get these details and more but first be sure to smash the like button and subscribe to the channel if you haven’t done so already, my goal is to get this channel to 11 000. Subscribers before the end of 2021, with your help, i believe we can do this let’s shoot for the moon. For this one now on to learning about the ng 15 cygnus spacecraft Music about twice a year, northrop grumman contracted by nasa sends a cygnus cargo resupply ship to the international space station. The cygnus ng15 mission, as its name suggests, is the 15th planned under nasa’s commercial resupply services contracts. While these spacecraft are autonomous, they aren’t named after people who have had a profound impact on human space flight. Northrop grumman announced february 1st that ng15 cygnus would be named after catherine johnson, who was a nasa mathematician whose handwritten calculations helped ensure a successful orville mission for john glenn. During his friendship, 7 mission in 1962. johnson was born august 26. 1918 in white sulphur springs west virginia according to nasa because of her curiosity and brilliance with numbers by age 13. She was attending high school on the campus of historically black west virginia state college when she was 18. She enrolled in the college itself to go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and french by 1937 before taking a job at teaching at a black public school in west virginia.

According to nasa. In 19′, she became the first black woman to attend graduate school at west virginia university, one of only three black students selected to integrate the program at the time. According to nasa, however, she left the program after the first session to start a family by 1952. She was told about an all black west area: computing selection at the national advisory committee for aeronautics, langley laboratory johnson began working at langley in virginia by the summer of 1953 and by 1957 she joined naca’s space task group, which became nasa later that year, while at The space task group she performed trajectory analysis for freedom 7, which was the mission that launched alan shepard in may of 1961 to become the first american in space. According to nasa. She co authored a research paper on orbital space flight and landing the first woman to receive a credit as an author of a research report at nasa in 1962, as john glenn was preparing to make america’s first orbital human space flight, he wanted to ensure the accuracy Of the ground based computer’s numbers, which would be controlling his friendship, 7 spacecraft according to nasa, these computers were programmed with the right equations for the mission from liftoff to splashdown, but machines were prone to hiccups and blackouts glenn famously said, get the girl meaning johnson to Manually check the numbers by hand, johnson says she remembered glenn, saying if she says they’re good, then i’m ready to go johnson would later go on to say her greatest contribution to space exploration was the calculations that helped sync: the apollo program’s lunar module with the command And service module in lunar orbit after working on the space shuttle, landsat satellites and co authoring 26 research reports she retired.

In 1986, after 33 years at langley, in 2015, barack obama awarded her the presidential medal of freedom, which is the highest civilian honor. In the united states, johnson died february 24 2020. At the age of 101., then nasa administrator, jim bridenstine said she was an american hero and her pioneering legacy will never be forgotten. As of the publication of this video, the cygnus spacecraft that now bears her name is slated to launch on february 20th, 2021 59 years to the day of john glenn’s friendship, 7 mission, ss, katherine johnson, is slated to launch atop an antares 230 plus rocket from the Mid atlantic regional spaceport on wallops island in virginia at 1736, utc february 20th, or about 12 36 pm eastern standard time should that get delayed. Those times will move earlier by about 20 to 30 minutes each day. The ng 15 cygnus spacecraft is loaded with approximately 3729 kilograms of pressurized cargo for the expedition 64 and future crews. It’Ll be the 16th cygnus spacecraft overall and the 15th to reach the iss and the 12th in the enhanced configuration it’s. Also the fourth flight under nasa’s, second, commercial resupply services contract. Assuming an on time, launch ss katherine johnson is slated to rendezvous with the iss on february 22nd, at about 9 40 utc, or about 4 40 am eastern standard time once about 10 meters below the iss under the destiny laboratory. The 17.6 meter long canadarm2 remote manipulator system will be commanded by the iss crew to grab the spacecraft and slowly move it into a birthing position on the earth facing port of the unity module once attached.

It’Ll remain there until about early may 2021. In order for its contents to be unloaded before being reloaded with up to 3729 kilograms of trash and unneeded equipment for eventual disposal, in addition to crew supplies and consumables, there are several new experiments being brought to the iss, for example, in the micro 16 experiment. Nasa hopes to be able to measure the muscle strength of tiny worms to test whether decreased expression of muscle proteins is associated with decreased muscle, strength right now, astronaut 10 cosmonauts have to exercise several hours a day to prevent bone and muscle loss caused by being in Microgravity for long duration missions, according to siva vanapalli, a professor of chemical engineering at texas tech university results from this study could provide insights into mechanisms causing muscle strength decline in the elderly since physiological changes occurring in spaceflight mimic, accelerated aging. Additionally, nasa said these results may support new therapies to combat the effects of age related muscle loss on earth. Another down to earth experiment is lambda vision’s protein based artificial retina manufacturing investigation, which aims to evaluate a manufacturing system that uses a light activated protein to replace the function of damaged cells in the eyes according to nasa. This is a follow up to a 2018 experiment that determined if the process used to create artificial retina implants, work better. In microgravity nasa said, land division hopes to find out whether microgravity optimizes the production of these retinas and if it could assist people on earth.

A third investigation being sent to the iss is actually a piece of radiation detection hardware that is expected to fly with astronauts on their way to the moon as early as 2023. During the artemis ii mission called artemis, hera on space station or ahas, the goal is to demonstrate and refine the software before actually sending it with the artemis ii crew. The device is actually a modified version of the hybrid electronic radiation, assessor or hera, which will be used as the primary radiation detection system for orion. You can find information about these experiments as well as others such as the spaceborne computer 2 study. The brine processor system upgrade to the current urine recycler, as well as a crystal growth experiment in the link in the description. These and other experiments will join the hundreds of other ongoing investigations on the iss. Under the current plan, ss katherine johnson is slated to be unbirthed in early may 2021, once safely away from the outpost, it’ll spend several days or weeks performing a post iss mission. Some of the tasks include deploying several cubesats via hardware by nanoracks. Once all mission activities are completed, cygnus will perform a final de orbit burn to destructively re enter earth’s atmosphere somewhere over the southern pacific ocean. The concluding of the ng 15 mission will pave the way for the ng 16 spacecraft to launch currently expected sometime later this year. What excites you most about this unpiloted cargo mission personally i’m excited for the investigations that are helping to ready humans for a return to the moon later this decade.

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