In a milestone for the space industry, Orbital Sciences’ 17ft long Cygnus spacecraft has become the 2nd craft to link up with the ISS.
Astronauts aboard the ISS used the Canadarm to capture the Cygnus craft which was ferrying 1,300 pounds of material to resupply to space station. Cygnus’ rendezvous with the ISS makes Orbital Sciences the second private company to run a resupply mission to the ISS, after Space X made a similar trip earlier this year.
With NASA looking to private companies to help support their missions to low-Earth orbit, both Space X and Orbital Science have positioned themselves to be major players in the grown Space Exploration Industry.