CAPE CANAVERAL — Bidding farewell to the International Space Station today, the commercial Cygnus cargo ship separated to a safe distance before igniting an intentional fire in microgravity like never before, all in the name of science.
The NASA-sponsored Spacecraft Fire Experiment, or SAFFIRE, was conducted to better understand how flames will behave in weightlessness and improve fire safety techniques for future spacecraft.
The first bit of video of today’s fire is expected to be released no earlier than tomorrow.
Scientists have lacked the ability to study large-scale fires in space because of the inherent danger to astronauts and the spacecraft. But Cygnus offers an ideal research platform for the first time, serving as a man-rated craft for the experiment at the end of its mission before deorbiting to burn up in the atmosphere.
The Orbital ATK-owned freighter reached orbit March 22 atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral and successfully delivered over 7,000 pounds of supplies, provisions and equipment to the station.
It was filled with 4,087 pounds of trash and disposables — broken hardware, dirty laundry, empty food containers — before the astronauts closed the hatch for today’s unberthing.
The station’s Canadian robotic arm, operated remotely by Mission Control, detached the Cygnus from the Unity module at 7:43 a.m. EDT (1143 GMT) and deftly maneuvered it under the outpost to the prescribed departure box.
At 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT), Expedition 47 commander Tim Kopra of NASA released the vessel 254 miles above Paraguay to fly away on its own, completing 80 days berthed at the International Space Station.
[excerpted]http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/06/14/cygnus-leaves-space-station-and-conducts-nasa-fire-experiment-in-microgravity/
