For the NG-18 mission, the Cygnus spacecraft will deliver more than 3,700 kg. (8,200 lb.) of cargo to the space station. Cygnus is comprised of two primary components, the Pressurized Cargo Module and the Service Module.

Planned space station research supported by this mission includes 3D printing of human tissue, as well as Uganda and Zimbabwe’s first satellites developed as part of the BIRDS program, the Joint Global Multi-Nation Birds Satellite project supporting space engineers in non-space-faring nations.

In keeping with company tradition, each spacecraft is named after an important figure in the aerospace industry. Northrop Grumman is honored to name the NG-18 Cygnus spacecraft after NASA astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space.

The S.S. Sally Ride will be launched into orbit using an Antares 230+ rocket from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad 0A on Wallops Island, Virginia. Northrop Grumman will once again load critical, time-sensitive cargo into Cygnus 24 hours before the scheduled launch.

Upon arrival at the International Space Station, the cargo will be unloaded from Cygnus. Beginning with the NG-17 mission, Cygnus offers the capability to perform routine reboost services as needed while berthed to the station.

Once its mission has been completed, Cygnus will perform a safe, destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

The Antares rocket was designed to serve NASA's cargo launch market need for a resupply vehicle to the International Space Station.

Originally named Taurus II, it is an expendable rocket developed and built by Orbital Sciences and is now owned and operated by Northrop Grumman.

It has only launched Cygnus crafts to the Station but is available on the wider commercial market.

Somewhat unique in the rocket world, it uses a liquid fueled first stage and a solid propellant second stage. Most rockets use liquid fueled second stages as it is far easier to get a perfect initial orbit with liquid propellant engines than with solid propellant rockets.

Antares has four variants, the current being the Antares 230+ which flew for the first time on October 17th, 2016.

Antares 230+:

Height: 42.5 m / 139 ft
Diameter: 3.9 m / 13 ft
Mass: 289,000 kg / 657,000 lb
Payload to LEO: 8,000 kg / 18,000 lb

First stage:
Engine: 2 x RD-181
Thrust: 3,844 kN / 864,000 lbf (total)
Fuel: Liquid Oxygen / RP-1 kerosene
Burn time: 215 seconds

Second stage - Castor 30XL:
Engine: Solid Rocket Motor
Thrust: 474 kN / 107,000 lbf
Propellant: Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene / aluminium
Burn time: 156 seconds

Image: NASA

The Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.

MARS began in July 2003 as a joint venture between Virginia and Maryland.

The first rocket launch from MARS occurred on December 16th, 2006 and was an Orbital Sciences Minotaur I rocket with the TacSat-2/GeneSat-1 payload.

To date, MARS has hosted the four Antares rocket variants, the Minotaur I, Minotaur V, and ALV X-1 rockets.

The Minotaurs and Antares were at first Orbital Sciences rockets and ALV X-1 was an ATK rocket. With the merger of Orbital Science and ATK into Orbital ATK, and Orbital ATK's subsequent purchase by Northrop Grumman, Northrop Grumman now technically owns all of the rockets (or at least their designs) that have ever flown from MARS.

After launch, Cygnus will spend a few days boosting itself up to the International Space Station. When it arrives, two crew members will grab it with the Station's robotic arm, Canadarm2, and berth it to the Earth-facing, or Nadir, port on the Unity module.

Unity, also called Node-1, was the second module of the ISS to be launched. Taken to orbit on the STS-88 mission of Shuttle Endeavour, Unity was joined to the Russian Zarya ("dawn") module on December 6th, 1998.

The Unity nadir port hosted two Space Shuttle dockings on the STS-97 and STS-98 missions of the Shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis in December 2000 and February 2001.

Since December 2015, it has been the only berthing port used for the Cygnus cargo spacecraft.

Picture: The Unity module (no solar panels), with its nadir port visible in its center, is joined via spacewalk (astronaut visible to right of where Unity and Zarya connect) to the Zarya module during STS-88 in December 1998. Credit: NASA