Cargo Resupply · Northrop Grumman Space Systems

Cygnus CRS OA-7

Cygnus CRS OA-7, also known as Orbital ATK CRS-7, is the eighth flight of the Orbital ATK unmanned resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its seventh flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. 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 Services (COTS) program, then Orbital Sciences 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 OA-7 is named the S.S. John Glenn in honor of astronaut and senator John Glenn, the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth on Mercury 6 and the oldest to go to space on STS-95.