NASA to Cover Northrop Grumman CRS-24 Spacecraft Departure

What this means

A factual summary is pending editorial review. The complete official release is reproduced below with issuer attribution and a direct link to the original publication.

Official release

Source material from NASA. The wording below is the issuer’s statement.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft rests at its capture point on April 13, 2026, 12 meters from the International Space Station, as the Canadarm2 robotic arm prepares to grapple the resupply ship.

Credit: NASA/Jessica Meir

After delivering more than 11,000 pounds of supplies, science experiments, and other cargo to the International Space Station for NASA, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL spacecraft is scheduled to depart Friday, Oct. 9, as part of the company’s Commercial Resupply Services-24 mission, or Northrop Grumman CRS-24.

Watch NASA’s live coverage of undocking and departure beginning at 12:30 p.m. EDT through a variety of platforms. Learn where to watch online:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

Flight controllers on the ground will send commands for the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach the Cygnus XL spacecraft from the Unity module’s Earth-facing port and maneuver it into position for release at 12:45 p.m. NASA astronaut Luke Delaney will monitor the operation from aboard the orbital complex.

Loaded with thousands of pounds of disposal items and other unneeded cargo, Cygnus XL will deorbit Sunday, Oct. 11, for a destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will safely burn up. NASA will not provide coverage of the spacecraft’s deorbit.

The resupply spacecraft launched on April 11 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Learn more about this NASA commercial resupply mission at:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-northrop-grumman-crs-24/

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Josh Finch / Jimi Russell

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1100

joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones

Johnson Space Center, Houston

281-483-5111

sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

Release text attributed to NASA. Consult the official publication for any subsequent corrections or updates.