Three weeks in the past, NASA revealed {that a} transport container defending a Cygnus spacecraft sustained “injury” whereas touring to the launch web site in Florida.

Constructed by Northrop Grumman, Cygnus is one in every of two Western spacecraft presently able to delivering meals, water, experiments, and different provides to the Worldwide House Station. This explicit Cygnus mission, NG-22, had been scheduled for June. As a part of its assertion in early March, the house company mentioned it was evaluating the NG-22 Cygnus cargo provide mission together with Northrop.

On Wednesday, after a question from Ars Technica, the house company acknowledged that the Cygnus spacecraft designated for NG-22 is simply too broken to fly, not less than within the close to time period.

Loading up Dragon

“Following preliminary analysis, there is also injury to the cargo module,” the company mentioned in an announcement. “The Worldwide House Station Program will proceed working with Northrop Grumman to evaluate whether or not the Cygnus cargo module is ready to safely fly to the house station on a future flight.” That future flight, NG-23, will launch no sooner than this fall, probably utilizing a unique Cygnus automobile.

In consequence, NASA is modifying the cargo on its subsequent cargo flight to the house station, the thirty second SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission, resulting from launch in April. The company says it would “add extra consumable provides and meals to assist guarantee enough reserves of provides aboard the station” to the Dragon automobile.

Because it mulls stopgap measures, one choice out there to NASA could also be to attempt to slot in a cargo mission on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. After the propulsion points skilled on Starliner’s first crew flight to the house station final June, NASA remains to be evaluating whether or not the automobile could be licensed for an operational crew mission, or whether or not it might be higher to carry out an uncrewed check flight.