NASA prepares for cargo craft to return to Earth

The Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) Cygnus commercial space freighter with its cymbal-like Ultra-Flex solar arrays and the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft are pictured in this fish-eye lens view from a window on the International Space Station.

The Northrop Grumman Cygnus CRS-9 Cargo Craft will be returning to earth on July 15 after a six-week stay at the International Space Station.

Coverage of the departing cargo craft will start at 8:15 a.m. with the craft scheduled to depart at 8:35 a.m. The entire departure can be viewed on WKTV 26 Government Channel on Comcast and AT&T U-verse Government Channel 99.

The cargo ship, which was dubbed the S.S. James “JR” Thompson after the fifth director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, brought a myriad of science investigations in both commercial and academic fields. Those included biomolecule extraction and sequencing technology, a cold atom laboratory, ice cubes facility, and microgravity investigation of event solidification.

For the past several days, the current crew of the International Space Station have been packing the Cygnus with trash and old gear in preparation for its return to Earth.

For more information about the departure, NASA TV or the International Space Station, visit www.nasa.gov.