Portal:Spaceflight/Selected article/13

The Cygnus spacecraft is an American automated cargo spacecraft developed by Orbital ATK as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) developmental program. It is designed to transport supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) following the retirement of the American Space Shuttle. Since August 2000 ISS resupply missions have been regularly flown by Russian Progress (spacecraft), as well as by the European Automated Transfer Vehicle, and the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle. With the Cygnus spacecraft and the SpaceX Dragon, NASA seeks to increase its partnerships with domestic commercial aviation and aeronautics industry.

Cygnus is the Latinized Greek word for swan and a northern constellation.

Not including its demonstration flight, Cygnus has been launched five times, with one, Cygnus CRS Orb-3, suffering a launch failure. Although designed to be launched by Orbital ATK's Antares rocket from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, damage to the launch pad caused by the Orb-3 failure led to two Cygnus missions being moved to Atlas V rockets launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Cygnus was renewed for the second round of the Commercial Resupply Services in 2016.