NASA Space Station Cargo Launches aboard Orbital ATK Resupply Mission

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April 18, 2017

RELEASE 17-029

NASA Space Station Cargo Launches aboard Orbital ATK Resupply Mission

The International Space Station will be capable of dozens of new scientific
investigations from NASA and around the world when Orbital ATK's Cygnus
spacecraft delivers more than 7,600 pounds of cargo Saturday, April 22.

Orbital ATK's seventh cargo delivery flight to the station launched
at 11:11 a.m. EDT Tuesday on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from
Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Expedition 51 astronauts Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency)
and Peggy Whitson of NASA will use the space station's robotic arm to
grapple Cygnus, about 6:05 a.m. Saturday. The spacecraft will remain at
the space station until July before its destructive reentry into Earth's
atmosphere, disposing of several thousand pounds of trash.

This is the fourth flight of an enhanced Cygnus spacecraft, and the third
using the Atlas V launch system. The spacecraft for this mission is named
in honor of John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. Glenn, who
died in December at age 95, was one of NASA's original seven astronauts
and a retired U.S. Senator from Ohio.

The mission, which is under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract,
will support dozens of new and existing investigations as Expeditions
51 and 52 contribute to approximately 250 science and research studies.

Highlights from the new experiments will include studies on cancer-fighting
drugs, crystal growth and atmospheric reentry.

In microgravity, cancer cells grow in 3-D, spheroid structures that closely
resemble their form in the human body, enabling better tests for drug
the efficacy. The ADCs in Microgravity investigation tests drugs designed
as targeted cancer therapies called antibody-drug conjugates, developed
by Oncolinx. These conjugates combine an immune-activating drug with antibodies
and target only cancer cells, which could potentially increase the effectiveness
of chemotherapy and reduce side-effects. Results from this investigation
could help inform treatments for cancer patients and provide insight into
how microgravity affects a drug's performance.

The Solidification Using a Baffle in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) investigation
originally was operated successfully aboard the station in 2002. Updated
software, data acquisition, high definition video and communication interfaces
will help advance understanding of the processes involved in semiconductor
crystal growth. Investigations such as the CLYC Crystal Growth experiment
will be conducted in the SUBSA Furnace and inserts. High-quality crystals
are essential to a variety of applications, and a microgravity environment
can produce better quality crystals. CLYC crystals grown aboard station
can help researchers understand the exact conditions needed to produce
the highest-quality, defect-free crystals.

The Thermal Protection Material Flight Test and Reentry Data Collection
(RED-Data2) investigation studies a new type of recording device that
rides alongside a spacecraft as it reenters Earth's atmosphere, recording
data about the extreme conditions it encounters. Scientists, so far, have
been unable to monitor those conditions on a large scale, and a better
understanding could lead to more accurate spacecraft breakup predictions,
better spacecraft designs, and materials capable of better resisting the
extreme heat and pressure during the return to Earth.

For more than 16 years, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard
the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating
new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth
that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep
space. A global endeavor, more than 200 people from 18 countries have
visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 1,900
research investigations from researchers in more than 95 countries.

Learn more about Orbital ATK's mission at:

https://www.nasa.gov/orbitalatk

Keep up with the International Space Station, and its research and crews,
at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

Get breaking news, images and features from the station on Instagram and
Twitter:

http://instagram.com/iss

and

http://www.twitter.com/Space_Station

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Press Contacts

Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
cheryl....@nasa.gov

Dan Huot
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
daniel...@nasa.gov