3 weeks back, NASA exposed that a shipping container safeguarding a Cygnus spacecraft sustained “damage” while taking a trip to the launch website in Florida.

Constructed by Northrop Grumman, Cygnus is among 2 Western spacecraft presently efficient in providing food, water, experiments, and other materials to the International Space Station. This specific Cygnus objective, NG-22, had actually been arranged for June. As part of its declaration in early March, the area company stated it was assessing the NG-22 Cygnus freight supply objective together with Northrop.

On Wednesday, after an inquiry from Ars Technica, the area company acknowledged that the Cygnus spacecraft designated for NG-22 is too harmed to fly, a minimum of in the nearterm.

Filling up Dragon

“Following initial evaluation, there also is damage to the cargo module,” the firm stated in a declaration. “The International Space Station Program will continue working with Northrop Grumman to assess whether the Cygnus cargo module is able to safely fly to the space station on a future flight.” That future flight, NG-23, will introduce no earlier than this fall.

As an outcome, NASA is customizing the freight on its next freight flight to the spaceport station, the 32nd SpaceX Cargo Dragon objective, due to introduce in April. The firm states it will “add more consumable supplies and food to help ensure sufficient reserves of supplies aboard the station” to the Dragon car.

As it mulls stopgap steps, one alternative offered to NASA might be to attempt to slot in a freight objective on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. After the propulsion problems experienced on Starliner’s very first team flight to the spaceport station last June, NASA is still examining whether the lorry can be licensed for a functional team objective, or whether it would be much better to carry out an uncrewed test flight.