1 00:00:01,467 --> 00:00:05,237 >> Kyle Herring: The focus of attention for Cygnus, 2 00:00:05,237 --> 00:00:09,942 after its launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport 3 00:00:09,942 --> 00:00:12,812 there at Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore 4 00:00:12,812 --> 00:00:16,549 of Virginia, after it was safely delivered to orbit, 5 00:00:16,549 --> 00:00:19,885 switched to the Cygnus Control Center, 6 00:00:19,885 --> 00:00:24,390 which is at Orbital Sciences Headquarters there outside 7 00:00:24,390 --> 00:00:28,227 Washington, DC in the Dallas-Virginia area. 8 00:00:28,227 --> 00:00:32,131 And we're fortunate to have Bruce Manners with us, 9 00:00:32,131 --> 00:00:36,569 joining us from Dallas from the orbital location. 10 00:00:36,569 --> 00:00:38,571 He's the Project Executive 11 00:00:38,571 --> 00:00:43,175 for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Program. 12 00:00:43,175 --> 00:00:45,144 And Bruce, are you there? 13 00:00:45,144 --> 00:00:47,580 It's great to have you with us today. 14 00:00:47,580 --> 00:00:48,380 >> Bruce Manning: Yes, I am. 15 00:00:48,380 --> 00:00:50,149 I'm really glad to be here. 16 00:00:50,149 --> 00:00:51,350 >> Kyle Herring: I bet you are. 17 00:00:51,350 --> 00:00:53,552 I'll tell you, the -- you know, I was on console 18 00:00:53,552 --> 00:00:55,855 for the launch and, you know, 19 00:00:55,855 --> 00:01:01,026 the Antares obviously did its job putting Cygnus into orbit. 20 00:01:01,026 --> 00:01:05,030 And I guess that just started the workday 21 00:01:05,030 --> 00:01:08,367 for all the orbital folks and the NASA folks 22 00:01:08,367 --> 00:01:12,805 that are supporting there at Dallas. 23 00:01:12,805 --> 00:01:13,839 >> Bruce Manning: Yes, it did. 24 00:01:13,839 --> 00:01:15,207 It was a beautiful launch. 25 00:01:15,207 --> 00:01:17,977 I was actually privileged to be at the Range Control Center 26 00:01:17,977 --> 00:01:20,846 at Wallops for the launch, and I was able to see that 27 00:01:20,846 --> 00:01:24,183 and the data, launch the data, and all that firsthand. 28 00:01:24,183 --> 00:01:28,120 And it was just an exciting moment but, as you said, 29 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:29,421 it was really just the beginning. 30 00:01:29,421 --> 00:01:34,026 As things -- as it -- once the Antares rocket left the 31 00:01:34,026 --> 00:01:37,329 spacecraft on orbit the focus really shifted over here 32 00:01:37,329 --> 00:01:39,965 to Dallas and Virginia where their flight control team 33 00:01:39,965 --> 00:01:42,601 for the Cygnus spacecraft took over. 34 00:01:42,601 --> 00:01:46,172 >> Kyle Herring: I've been reporting each day a little bit 35 00:01:46,172 --> 00:01:49,074 about the progress and the health of this spacecraft, 36 00:01:49,074 --> 00:01:52,478 but maybe you can go into some more detail I guess 37 00:01:52,478 --> 00:01:54,813 about after we went off the air Wednesday, 38 00:01:54,813 --> 00:01:56,749 obviously the solar rays were out. 39 00:01:56,749 --> 00:01:58,384 The vehicle was healthy. 40 00:01:58,384 --> 00:02:01,520 But talk about what's kind of the -- 41 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,890 been the progress since Wednesday 42 00:02:04,890 --> 00:02:09,061 and set the stage for Sunday? 43 00:02:09,061 --> 00:02:10,062 >> Bruce Manning: Sure. 44 00:02:10,062 --> 00:02:11,764 Well, the vehicle is in great shape. 45 00:02:11,764 --> 00:02:13,132 I really couldn't be happier 46 00:02:13,132 --> 00:02:15,401 with how things are operating there. 47 00:02:15,401 --> 00:02:17,036 They have, at this point, completed the first -- 48 00:02:17,036 --> 00:02:20,472 their couple of their demonstration objectives 49 00:02:20,472 --> 00:02:23,776 that they need to accomplish before they get approved 50 00:02:23,776 --> 00:02:26,312 to come into the station. 51 00:02:26,312 --> 00:02:28,847 That data right now is really still in review with all 52 00:02:28,847 --> 00:02:30,416 of the flight control teams back with -- 53 00:02:30,416 --> 00:02:33,085 in Houston and in Dallas, 54 00:02:33,085 --> 00:02:35,087 but the preliminary looks at all the data. 55 00:02:35,087 --> 00:02:36,956 It says that everything is going great. 56 00:02:36,956 --> 00:02:39,892 They were able to maintain position and attitude control 57 00:02:39,892 --> 00:02:42,861 and free drift when told to and when commanded to. 58 00:02:42,861 --> 00:02:44,964 So that's all great news. 59 00:02:44,964 --> 00:02:46,832 What's really been happening since then, you know, they -- 60 00:02:46,832 --> 00:02:48,634 as you said, they have the solar rays out 61 00:02:48,634 --> 00:02:51,870 and the spacecraft is fully powered, and they've checked 62 00:02:51,870 --> 00:02:53,539 out all the systems, and everything seems 63 00:02:53,539 --> 00:02:55,274 to be running really great. 64 00:02:55,274 --> 00:02:58,444 So really the big movements right now is just chasing 65 00:02:58,444 --> 00:03:00,913 after the space station doing Delta-V burns and trying 66 00:03:00,913 --> 00:03:03,315 to get themselves into the proper position to -- 67 00:03:03,315 --> 00:03:06,285 once they get the authorization from Houston 68 00:03:06,285 --> 00:03:07,820 to come into the station. 69 00:03:07,820 --> 00:03:09,822 So that's really been the focus of the activities; 70 00:03:09,822 --> 00:03:11,957 checking out that vehicle, getting those first couple 71 00:03:11,957 --> 00:03:13,058 of demonstrations done 72 00:03:13,058 --> 00:03:15,561 and chasing [inaudible], chasing the station. 73 00:03:15,561 --> 00:03:19,898 >> Kyle Herring: So that leads us to Sunday morning obviously 74 00:03:19,898 --> 00:03:23,002 for the [inaudible], everything starts happening 75 00:03:23,002 --> 00:03:26,705 about one-thirty in the morning, I guess, your time there, 76 00:03:26,705 --> 00:03:30,042 on Eastern time, twelve-thirty here. 77 00:03:30,042 --> 00:03:33,445 But one of the first callouts I guess 78 00:03:33,445 --> 00:03:38,150 that morning is the go-no-go decision for joint operations 79 00:03:38,150 --> 00:03:41,687 and then from there on kind of the rest of the -- 80 00:03:41,687 --> 00:03:44,290 it's a pretty feverish pace I guess 81 00:03:44,290 --> 00:03:47,559 in orbital mechanic's lingo. 82 00:03:47,559 --> 00:03:49,328 But describe to us kind 83 00:03:49,328 --> 00:03:52,064 of what's going to happen on Sunday? 84 00:03:52,064 --> 00:03:53,732 >> Bruce Manning: I'll do the best I can. 85 00:03:53,732 --> 00:03:55,567 I'm not really the best one 86 00:03:55,567 --> 00:03:57,670 for all the orbital mechanics pieces of it. 87 00:03:57,670 --> 00:04:00,105 The mission flight teams are, I'm sure, much able -- 88 00:04:00,105 --> 00:04:01,807 much more equipped to handle those kinds of questions. 89 00:04:01,807 --> 00:04:03,942 But as they come into the station, you know, they're -- 90 00:04:03,942 --> 00:04:05,344 they will have to -- they have -- 91 00:04:05,344 --> 00:04:09,148 still have some demonstration pieces that they need to sort 92 00:04:09,148 --> 00:04:10,616 out until they can get close enough 93 00:04:10,616 --> 00:04:14,119 and ultimately captured by the robotic arm. 94 00:04:14,119 --> 00:04:16,455 They'll be operated, of course, by the onboard crew 95 00:04:16,455 --> 00:04:18,223 and the International Space Station. 96 00:04:18,223 --> 00:04:20,092 That capture point, once they are -- 97 00:04:20,092 --> 00:04:22,461 be able to grab a hold of them, that's referred to as capture, 98 00:04:22,461 --> 00:04:24,196 and then they will berth them to all the way 99 00:04:24,196 --> 00:04:25,764 into the space station where then the -- 100 00:04:25,764 --> 00:04:28,367 we've got pieces then that the crew will have 101 00:04:28,367 --> 00:04:29,501 to [inaudible] bolt the vehicle 102 00:04:29,501 --> 00:04:32,738 into the space station before they'll be able 103 00:04:32,738 --> 00:04:37,009 to ultimately open the hatch, which will hopefully happen 104 00:04:37,009 --> 00:04:38,977 in a day or so after that. 105 00:04:38,977 --> 00:04:41,213 >> Kyle Herring: In this flight, you know, 106 00:04:41,213 --> 00:04:43,315 it's called a demo flight, but obviously 107 00:04:43,315 --> 00:04:44,950 with everything going very smoothly, I mean, 108 00:04:44,950 --> 00:04:47,653 all the orbital folks, NASA, obviously you guys have 109 00:04:47,653 --> 00:04:50,789 to be really thrilled with the performance 110 00:04:50,789 --> 00:04:52,925 of this vehicle so far. 111 00:04:52,925 --> 00:04:56,161 But now you've looked to the next flight, 112 00:04:56,161 --> 00:04:58,831 which I guess is known essentially 113 00:04:58,831 --> 00:05:01,900 as the real first cargo delivery flight. 114 00:05:01,900 --> 00:05:04,636 But -- and I understand preparations are probably 115 00:05:04,636 --> 00:05:08,073 already underway to reach a goal of trying to launch 116 00:05:08,073 --> 00:05:11,443 that flight maybe as early as December. 117 00:05:11,443 --> 00:05:12,711 >> Bruce Manning: Yes, sir. 118 00:05:12,711 --> 00:05:14,213 They do have cargo on this flight. 119 00:05:14,213 --> 00:05:17,683 You know, there is a little over 700 kilograms 120 00:05:17,683 --> 00:05:19,118 of cargo on this flight. 121 00:05:19,118 --> 00:05:21,320 But the intent here was to keep that sort 122 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,123 of low value pieces just in case there was any issues. 123 00:05:24,123 --> 00:05:26,458 But right now, of course, it looks like we're absolutely 124 00:05:26,458 --> 00:05:29,228 on track to deliver that cargo to the station. 125 00:05:29,228 --> 00:05:33,632 And it has some student payloads and some, you know, 126 00:05:33,632 --> 00:05:36,034 pieces for the crew themselves and things. 127 00:05:36,034 --> 00:05:39,204 All that. But yeah, there is work well under way 128 00:05:39,204 --> 00:05:42,841 for the first operational flight under the CRS contract. 129 00:05:42,841 --> 00:05:44,910 We do hope that, that can possibly be happening 130 00:05:44,910 --> 00:05:46,812 in December, maybe not until January. 131 00:05:46,812 --> 00:05:49,948 That schedule needs to get sorted out at this point. 132 00:05:49,948 --> 00:05:53,452 But if you were to go to the Horizontal Integration Facility 133 00:05:53,452 --> 00:05:57,923 at Wallops, you will see all the pieces really coming together 134 00:05:57,923 --> 00:05:59,324 for the next Antares. 135 00:05:59,324 --> 00:06:04,229 And H-100 at Wallops, they also have the next PCM, 136 00:06:04,229 --> 00:06:06,498 the Pressurized Cargo Module, the service modules. 137 00:06:06,498 --> 00:06:09,067 They're all -- it's all really starting to come together 138 00:06:09,067 --> 00:06:12,538 and you can see the pieces, and the crank is beginning to turn 139 00:06:12,538 --> 00:06:14,673 to really see it in a production line mode; 140 00:06:14,673 --> 00:06:16,308 so they can keep turning these things 141 00:06:16,308 --> 00:06:17,843 out every six months or so. 142 00:06:17,843 --> 00:06:21,747 But we are really excited about this mission right now. 143 00:06:21,747 --> 00:06:25,317 And if you even look in the history where we are, 144 00:06:25,317 --> 00:06:27,186 this is really the -- almost you can think of it 145 00:06:27,186 --> 00:06:28,454 as the third flight of Antares 146 00:06:28,454 --> 00:06:29,655 in the last seven or eight months. 147 00:06:29,655 --> 00:06:31,390 They had a hot-fire test. 148 00:06:31,390 --> 00:06:34,159 It was done back in the -- back early this year. 149 00:06:34,159 --> 00:06:36,462 Then, of course, the Antares flight in April 150 00:06:36,462 --> 00:06:40,165 and then this flight with Antares and Cygnus again now. 151 00:06:40,165 --> 00:06:41,533 They've really done an awful lot. 152 00:06:41,533 --> 00:06:44,937 But you can see that the production line mentality is 153 00:06:44,937 --> 00:06:47,139 setting in, in there, so they can turn those things out 154 00:06:47,139 --> 00:06:50,342 and get them out as quickly and as often as we need them. 155 00:06:50,342 --> 00:06:50,976 >> Kyle Herring: Yeah. 156 00:06:50,976 --> 00:06:52,344 That sounds great. 157 00:06:52,344 --> 00:06:57,249 It's nice to have a vehicle that is probably well ahead 158 00:06:57,249 --> 00:07:00,285 of its processing, and all it has to do is wait 159 00:07:00,285 --> 00:07:02,855 for a little bit of highway traffic around the station. 160 00:07:02,855 --> 00:07:08,360 And it's always nice to have a busy highway around the ISS. 161 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:10,762 >> Bruce Manning: Absolutely. 162 00:07:10,762 --> 00:07:13,098 When we get this mission, we will take -- 163 00:07:13,098 --> 00:07:14,500 deliver the cargo up there. 164 00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:18,170 We'll take some trash away, and when they leave in thirty days. 165 00:07:18,170 --> 00:07:20,639 And then as you said, we are -- 166 00:07:20,639 --> 00:07:23,008 they're rapidly trying to get everything wrapped up 167 00:07:23,008 --> 00:07:24,776 and buttoned up for the next mission, which we -- 168 00:07:24,776 --> 00:07:26,578 hopefully we can do as early as December, 169 00:07:26,578 --> 00:07:28,046 if not, maybe into January. 170 00:07:28,046 --> 00:07:33,018 But the hardware is definitely coming together. 171 00:07:33,018 --> 00:07:36,355 >> Kyle Herring: Well, obviously give all of our best 172 00:07:36,355 --> 00:07:37,723 to the orbital team 173 00:07:37,723 --> 00:07:41,293 and obviously the NASA folks supporting all the activities 174 00:07:41,293 --> 00:07:42,361 up there. 175 00:07:42,361 --> 00:07:44,463 Dallas will obviously be here supporting 176 00:07:44,463 --> 00:07:45,797 as well and watching along. 177 00:07:45,797 --> 00:07:50,302 And we really appreciate you, Bruce, stopping by 178 00:07:50,302 --> 00:07:52,971 and talking with us today. 179 00:07:52,971 --> 00:07:53,805 >> Bruce Manning: Thank you very much. 180 00:07:53,805 --> 00:07:54,873 And you folks have a great day. 181 00:07:54,873 --> 00:07:56,341 And let's go Cygnus. 182 00:07:56,341 --> 00:07:58,777 I'm looking forward to the birthday on Sunday. 183 00:07:58,777 --> 00:07:59,344 >> Kyle Herring: Take care. 184 00:07:59,344 --> 00:08:00,245 Thanks, Bruce.