An uncrewed cargo delivery spacecraft for the International Space Station. Designed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (now Orbital ATK) the craft measures 5.14 m long and 3.07 m wide; its enhanced model, developed by Italy’s Thales Alenia Space, is capable of carrying a payload of more than 3 500 kg with a total volumetric capacity of 27 cubic metres. Its March 2016 launch aboard an Atlas V rocket carried nearly 3 400 kg of cargo, setting a capacity record for the rocket. Its ninth mission launch and transport occurred successfully on 12 November 2017.

Orbital ATK’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft attached to the International Space Station’s Canadarm2, photographed at sunrise by NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik on 6 December 2017.

Credit: NASA