First Christmas gifts reach the International Space Station

Wednesday, December 9, 2015, 9:53 AM - Early Wednesday morning, the first Christmas gifts of the season arrived at the International Space Station, as the Cygnus cargo craft that launched on Sunday finally reached its destination.

The S.S. Deke Slayton II, a Cygnus OA-4 cargo vessel operated by Orbital Sciences, had been circling the Earth since Sunday afternoon, and at 6:19 a.m. EST, it slipped up to within grasping distance of the Space Station. Once there, ESA astronaut Kjell Lindgren took control of the Canadarm2 to grapple with the cargo ship and draw it in to berth with the station's Unity module. 

On board the Deke Slayton II is a load of food, supplies and science experiments to continue the station's mission, but this also represents the first of two Christmas deliveries to the ISS. Thus, there should be some extra items on board that will help get the crew into the festive spirit.

Watch below: The S.S. Deke Slayton II lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, Sunday, December 6.

Canadian cargo

Included in the nearly 3,500 kilograms of cargo arriving at the ISS are two important science contributions from Canada, along with an upgrade for one of the Canadian robotic denizens of the station as well.

• MARROW: an experiment led by researchers at the University of Ottawa, to study how microgravity affects bone marrow and its cells, to benefit not only the astronauts who inhabit the space station, but also those with limited mobility here on Earth.

• Vascular Echo: a University of Waterloo study which builds upon previous Canadian research that found some astronauts experience accelerated stiffening of their arteries while on board the ISS. This new experiment will look into the possible causes of this arterial stiffening, to help protect the health of astronauts and to potentially benefit people on Earth as well.

• Kaber: although not designed or built in Canada, this new component for the station will be used by Dextre - the space station's Canadian-built robotic "handyman" - to launch microsatellites into Earth orbit.

Return to Space

This launch, which took place at 4:44 p.m. EST on Sunday, Dec 6, was not only the third attempt to boost this particular cargo delivery into orbit, but it was also Orbital Sciences' triumphant return to space after a disastrous attempt in October 2014. That fourth launch by Orbital, named the Deke Slayton I, lifted off on October 29, 2014, but was destroyed when the Antares rocket booster it was attached to exploded just moments after leaving the launch pad. 

Since the Antares rocket is still grounded until Orbital completes their testing and upgrades in 2016, the Deke Slayton II launched to space atop an Atlas V 401 rocket, built and operated by United Launch Alliance. This 30th launch for the Atlas V rocket was also its 30th successful launch into space.

Although there was a 3-day delay for this delivery, forcing the crew to wait a few days longer for their resupply and any Christmas goodies on board, it did not leave the space station in any jeopardy. These shipments are carefully timed to arrive long before the crew would run out of food or other critical supplies.

The next Christmas delivery to the station is scheduled for launch on-board the Russian Progress 62 cargo ship on December 21, with an anticipated arrival roughly two days later (Dec. 23). In the mean time, three crew members - Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, ESA astronaut Kjell Lindgren and JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui - will be returning to Earth on December 11. This will be followed by the launch of the next crew of three -  Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, along with ESA astronaut Tim Peake, from the UK - on December 15, to start a six-month stay aboard the station.

Sources: NASA | Canadian Government | Canadian Space Agency

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