237 DAY IN THE LIFE: VITAL VISITING VEHICLES—KEEPING THE REMOTE OUTPOST CREWED AND OPERATING CHAPTER 14 Cygnus—Also developed by a commercial company, Orbital ATK, the Cygnus can launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, or from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission is controlled by a team at Mission Control Center-Dulles located in Dulles, Virginia. Cygnus carries cargo to the ISS and disposes of trash from the ISS via destructive reentry. As with the HTV, the Cygnus is also captured by the SSRMS and berthed to the USOS (Figure 4). Cygnus can deliver up to about 3,600 kg (7,940 lbs) of cargo to the ISS. Figure 4. The Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft about to be captured by the Canadarm2 on March 26, 2016, before being berthed to the nadir port of the Node 1 module of the ISS, as photographed by an Expedition 47 crew member. The Earth can be seen in the background. Preparation for the Arrival of an H-II Transfer Vehicle, Dragon, or Cygnus Visiting Vehicle Scheduling As described in Chapter 1, the flight control team works with ISS Program personnel, including the international partners, to meticulously plan the rotation of crew members, delivery of new science experiments, return of completed experiments, and resupplies for the ISS. Launch schedules around the world need to be negotiated. This, in itself, can be extremely complicated. Each company or government launches other payloads therefore, delays on one vehicle, due to weather or technical issues, can impact other missions to the ISS. Careful coordination is also required to manage the available ports for berthing the vehicles. The only two berthing ports are located on the nadir, or bottom, side of the ISS. Cargo preparation and delivery schedules need to be established and often adjusted when equipment unexpectedly fails or priorities change. In some cases, the orbit of the ISS needs to be adjusted to accommodate the arrival of the visiting vehicle. Physics determines how quickly a spacecraft can get to the ISS, and must be factored into the power and fuel with which the vehicle has to perform the rendezvous. The number of constraints that need to be simultaneously satisfied for even a single mission proves to be a challenge almost every time. Some highly unusual constraints have impacted the scheduling of launches. For example, during the Japanese fishing season off the coast of Tanegashima, large numbers of fishing vessels are situated off the waters of the launch site, which would put people at risk if a rocket exploded. Another constraint was the estimated pressure in the off-nominal case of an explosion of the vehicle near the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia. Yet another was the G8 summit in Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, and the associated air space restrictions over Kazakhstan during the arrival of all the Heads of State. This situation prohibited the Russian search-and-rescue aircraft from conducting the Soyuz recovery mission on the original date. Other constraints have included the sea state