The Northrop Grumman NG-18 Cygnus will be unberthed from the ISS before initiating a destructive reentry into the Earth's atmosphere taking waste along with it.

Northrop Grumman Space Systems

This is the 18th flight of the Orbital ATK's uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its 17th flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.

Cygnus CRS-2 NG-18 (S.S. Sally Ride)

Low Earth Orbit

Antares 230+ | Cygnus CRS-2 NG-18 (S.S. Sally Ride)

Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

Launch Area 0 A

Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station.The first CRS contracts were signed in 2008 and awarded $1.6 billion to SpaceX for twelve cargo Dragon and $1.9 billion to Orbital Sciences for eight Cygnus flights, covering deliveries to 2016. The Falcon 9 and Antares rockets were also developed under the CRS program to deliver cargo spacecraft to the ISS.

Commercial Resupply Services

The International Space Station programme is tied together by a complex set of legal, political and financial agreements between the sixteen nations involved in the project, governing ownership of the various components, rights to crewing and utilization, and responsibilities for crew rotation and resupply of the International Space Station. It was conceived in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, during the Space Station Freedom project as it was originally called.

International Space Station

Antares 230+

The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).

Launch Successful

NG-18 Cygnus Release & Reentry

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Sierra Nevada Corporation

SpaceX

Canadian Space Agency

European Space Agency

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS)

The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first component was launched into orbit in 1998, with the first long-term residents arriving in November 2000. It has been inhabited continuously since that date. The last pressurised module was fitted in 2011, and an experimental inflatable space habitat was added in 2016. The station is expected to operate until 2030. Development and assembly of the station continues, with several new elements scheduled for launch in 2019. The ISS is the largest human-made body in low Earth orbit and can often be seen with the naked eye from Earth. The ISS consists of pressurised habitation modules, structural trusses, solar arrays, radiators, docking ports, experiment bays and robotic arms. ISS components have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, and American Space Shuttles.