WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Engineers and technicians make final preparations before the Cygnus spacecraft, built by Orbital ATK, is lifted out of its work stand and mated to its service module inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The service module includes the spacecraft’s propulsion system as well as its power-producing solar arrays. The Cygnus, which flies without a crew, is to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying equipment, supplies and research to the International Space Station.