Prepped Up Spacecraft Launch All Set to Haul More to ISS

An unmanned Cygnus cargo spacecraft has been prepped up to launch up to the International Space Station, taking with it more than ever before, including experiments conditioned to snoop on meteors, 3D-print unusual parts and to start a fire.

Orbital ATK's commercial spacecraft is all prepared to launch at 11:05 p.m. EST and will arrive at the ISS for three days before the space station's robotic arm shatters it. This is when the space crew will start to unload its new load of experiments and supplies amounting to 3.5 tons of new stuff for the orbiting lab.

All the materials hauled up the space station through this spacecraft will be taken off except this one large box which is to be left behind in Cygnus for the entire duration of the mission. The box, called Spacecraft Fire Experiment-1 (Saffire-1), is best kept at a distance from the crew and the ISS, said the researchers, "It will be the largest piece of material ever burnt in space."

The fabric inside the spacecraft will be burned down to ashes, however it will only happen once it has been refilled with all the trash and freed when the mission ends. Its four special relays must be activated individually by Orbital ATK before the start of the experiment.

"The experiment is called Spacecraft Fire Experiment or 'Saffire' and the purpose of it is to look at the spread and growth of a large-scale fire in long-duration microgravity," said experiment co-investigator Dr. Gary Ruff to the Observer. "The sample is about 4/10 of a meter wide by a meter long and it's going to be the biggest piece of material that we've ever burned in space and what we're trying to understand is; how rapidly that fire can grow and whether the fire reaches a steady size or continues to grow up the sample like it would if you had a drapery fire on Earth."