Falcon 9 launches CRS NG-24 cargo ship to ISS

Weeks after Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus S.S. William McCool ended its CRS NG-23 mission with a destructive reentry, another Cygnus is now flying. A Falcon 9 successfully launched the Cygnus XL S.S. Steven R. Nagel to the International Space Station, the fourth time SpaceX has launched a Cygnus spacecraft.

The launch took place on Saturday, April 11 at 7:41 AM EDT (11:41 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. CRS NG-24 had originally been scheduled to fly on Wednesday, April 8, but NASA and SpaceX moved the flight due to bad weather in the Cape Canaveral area. The launch window was instantaneous, but a backup opportunity was available at 7:18 AM EDT (11:18 UTC) on Sunday, April 12 if needed.

Booster B1094-7 launched to the northeast on a trajectory that took the S.S. Steven R. Nagel to an orbit inclined 51.6 degrees to the Equator, the same orbital inclination that the International Space Station (ISS) uses. The booster safely returned to the recently inaugurated LZ-40 landing pad near SLC-40 while the second stage released the Cygnus XL at T+14:39 minutes to end the mission.

The booster started its career with the Starlink Group 12-10 mission, and has also flown the Axiom-4 crewed flight, Crew-11, NG-23, Starlink Group 6-81, and Starlink Group 6-89. All of its flights have been from either CCSFS or the Kennedy Space Center.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flies over SLC-40 and the brand new LZ-40 with Crew-12 on the pad. (Credit: NASA)

The S.S. Steven R. Nagel, named after a veteran Space Shuttle astronaut, will take just over two days to get to the Station before its planned rendezvous and capture. The ISS astronauts will use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple the Cygnus spacecraft.

After ISS crewmember Jack Hathaway uses the Canadarm2 to grapple the Cygnus, he will direct it to a berthing at the Unity module’s nadir common berthing port, similar to the process of installing a module. The capture is currently scheduled for around 16:50 UTC on Monday, April 13.

The berthing process allows the Cygnus XL to carry payload racks or other items that would be too large to move through the pressurized mating adapters that crew and cargo Dragon spacecraft dock to.

The Cold Atom Laboratory mounted in the ISS Destiny module. (Credit: NASA)

The Cygnus XL cargo ship is carrying around 5,000 kg of cargo to the ISS, including 1,075 kg related to scientific experiments. One key experiment aboard the S.S. Steven R. Nagel is a new module to upgrade the Cold Atom Laboratory, originally launched in 2018, which is designed to trap rubidium and potassium atoms and to cool using laser technology to temperatures of about one billionth of a degree above absolute zero, far colder than the temperature in deep space.

This process allows scientists to study quantum characteristics and fundamental behaviors of these atoms, since they have almost no motion. This research could allow for ultra-cold atom-based quantum sensors for gravitational or magnetic fields and other applications. The new module could advance quantum science and aid in the search for dark matter as well as improving computer technology.

Other experiments aboard the cargo ship include hardware that could produce therapeutic stem cells on a larger scale to treat blood diseases and cancer, model organisms known as C. elegans to study gut microbiomes in microgravity, and a radio receiver to study signals that pass through the Earth’s ionosphere.

The Bartolomeo external experiment platform will host the African ClimCam climate and weather camera. (Credit: NASA)

The ship also has a camera onboard known as ClimCam. This system, a joint project between Egypt, Kenya, and Uganda, will be installed on an external facility on the European Columbus science module. ClimCam will observe weather and climate of East Africa on orbit.

S.S. Steven R. Nagel is also carrying the European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device (E4D). This device combines bicycling, rowing, resistive capabilities, pulling, rope pulling, and climbing, and its performance will be evaluated after use by ISS crew members. It is hoped that E4D can replace multiple devices currently used to obtain the same effects, especially on future spacecraft with limited space, and it will be set up in the Columbus laboratory module for testing.

Jack Hathaway will be at the controls of the Canadarm2 during Cygnus berthing, while Chris Williams will monitor the arrival. (Credit: NASA)

Besides science, the Cygnus is also carrying 1,410 kg of crew supplies, 65 kg of spacewalk equipment, 2,120 kg of vehicle hardware, and 330 kg of computer resources. An evaporative cooler to act as a backup to reject heat from the Station in the event of a dual thermal control loop failure is onboard, along with a medical eye imaging device, batteries for the Zarya module, and other items. The Cygnus XL is also capable of conducting periodic reboosts of the ISS to keep the complex aloft in low-Earth orbit.

The Cygnus cargo ship is also carrying LEOPARDSat-1, a CubeSat that will test thin carbon sheeting as a way to block radiation. This satellite, developed by students at the University of Cincinnati, will be deployed from the Station’s Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer.

The LEOPARDSat-1 satellite developed by University of Cincinnati students. (Credit: University of Cincinnati)

S.S. Steven R. Nagel will remain berthed on ISS for around six months before being released to a destructive re-entry over the Pacific. This flight is the second for the Cygnus XL, the largest derivative of the Cygnus design. It is also possibly the last Cygnus mission aboard the Falcon 9 as Northrop Grumman works to fly the first Antares 330 medium-lift launch vehicle as soon as the fourth quarter of 2026.

The astronaut that NG-24’s Cygnus XL was named after logged 723 hours in space aboard four Space Shuttle missions, and was one of the few astronauts who flew as a commander, pilot, and mission specialist. Steven Nagel, a decorated US Air Force fighter pilot, instructor and test pilot, was selected as an astronaut in 1978 and his first flight was STS-51G aboard Discovery in June 1985, the flight that flew a French astronaut and a Saudi prince.

Nagel also was the pilot on STS-61A, the last successful flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger, in late 1985. This flight, a Spacelab mission for what was then West Germany, was the only one that flew a crew of eight for the entire mission from launch to landing.

The STS-61A crew, with Pilot Steven Nagel in front, poses aboard Space Shuttle Challenger. (Credit: NASA)

After NASA returned the Shuttle to flight after the Challenger disaster, Nagel commanded STS-37, aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which carried the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory into orbit, as well as STS-55 aboard Columbia, which was the second German Spacelab mission.

Steven Nagel held a number of management positions at NASA after his retirement from the US Air Force in 1995. He also acted as a test pilot in NASA’s Aircraft Operations Division before he retired from the agency in 2011. Nagel died of melanoma in August 2014 at the age of 67.

The NG-24 flight was the 43rd Falcon 9 launch of 2026, and it will be followed by the Progress MS-34 flight from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on April 25. In addition, the Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch two Cargo Dragons in the coming months; CRS-34 in in May and CRS-35 in August.

(Lead image: Falcon 9 launches with Cygnus XL S.S. Steven R. Nagel onboard. Credit: Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF)

The post Falcon 9 launches CRS NG-24 cargo ship to ISS appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.