SpaceX NASA & Northrop Grumman launches NG-20 Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the ISS at 12:07 PM on Tuesday January 30^th 2024 from SLC-40 Cape Canaveral Florida.

Northrop Grumman had to retire the Antares 230+ because it was built in Ukraine and powered by Russian engines after the war started in Europe. The new Antares 330 will take a few years to be built and tested before it can start flying payloads back to the ISS from Wallops Island Virigina. In the mean time SpaceX is contracted to carry at least two Cygnus cargo resupply missions to the ISS until the new Antares is ready to carry the load again.

This spacecraft is designated the S.S. Patricia “Patty” Hilliard Robertson to honor a NASA astronaut who died in 2001 before she was heading to space in 2002 from a light plane accident. Cygnus will be carrying over 8,200 pounds of science investigations, food, water, clothes and maintenance equipment for the ISS.

 Three science investigations by the NASA Biological & Physical Science Division (BPS) are:

 MABL-A by the Mayo Clinic on the role of Mesenchymal Stem cells in microgravity induced bone loss by spaceflight or normal aging on Earth.

APEX-10 Advanced Plant Experiment-10 to study plant microbe interactions in space to increase plant production on Earth & space.

BRIC-25 biological research in canisters will study how microgravity affects staphylococcus aureus to help safe guard astronauts heath and to find out about bacterial adaptations on Earth.

This mission is SpaceX 10^th launch in 2024 to date,the 168^th SpaceX launch from SLC-40, the 305^th total launch, 269^th total landing, 239 total reflights per spacex.com/launches

Article and Photos by Scott Schilke for spacenewfl.com