Information to be determined is in RED TEXT below.
Information that is subject to change is in GREEN TEXT below.
Last update of this page: March 11, 2014, 6:20 am ET
Payload Ferry Flights and ISS Crew Data
Ferry Vehicle to ISS: Orbital Sciences Orb-1 (Antares rocket, Cygnus spacecraft)
Launch Date: January 9, 2014, 1:07 pm ET (see NASA Consolidated Launch Schedule at nasa.gov)
Crew: none
Launch Site: Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), Wallops Island, VA
Berthing at ISS: January 12, 2014, 8:05 am ET
Launch Date History:
Initial Launch Date: September 30, 2013 (assuming vehicle was SpaceX-3)
Slip: rescheduled to November 11, 2013 (assuming vehicle was SpaceX-3; reported to SSEP Mission 4 Community Program Directors on April 15, 2013)
Slip: rescheduled to December 8, 2013 (officially manifested on Orb-1; reported to SSEP Mission 4 Community Program Directors on September 17, 2013)
Slip: rescheduled to December 18, 2013
Slip: rescheduled to December 19, 2013
Slip: rescheduled to January 7, 2014 (due to coolant pump failure and needed repair on ISS; reported to SSEP Mission 4 Community Program Directors on December 18, 2013; also see December 18, 2013 blog post)
Slip: rescheduled to January 8, 2014 (due to expected extreme cold weather at pad; reported to SSEP Mission 4 Community Program Directors on January 4, 2014)
Slip: rescheduled to January 9, 2014 (due to enhanced solar activity; see January 8, 2014 blog post)
Ferry Vehicle for Return to Earth: Soyuz 36S
Crew: Oleg Kotov, Sergey Ryazanskiy, Michael Hopkins
Undocking: 8:02 pm ET, March 10, 2014
Landing: 11:24 pm ET, March 10, 2014
Landing Site: Kazakhstan
Payload Duration on ISS: 8 weeks
Notable: visit the NASA ISS website for a comprehensive overview of ISS construction, on-orbit research, operations, crews, and multimedia galleries; read about the Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rocket; read about the Soyuz TMA vehicle at nasa.gov
ISS Crew for SSEP Mission 4 Payload Operations: Expedition 38
Station Commander Oleg Kotov (Russia); Flight Engineers Sergey Ryazanskiy (Russia), Michael Hopkins (USA), Richard Mastracchio (USA; on Twitter @AstroRM), Koichi Wakata (Japan), and Mikhail Tyurin (Russia). (see Expeditions Schedule at nasa.gov)
SSEP Mission 4 to ISS: Payload and Program Data
Payload Designation: SSEP6 – Orion (named for Apollo 16 Lunar Module; SSEP experiments payloads are currently named for Apollo Lunar Modules)
Number of Student Team Flight Experiments: 11
Payload: Suite of Fluids Mixing Enclosure (FMA – Mark II) Mini-laboratories
Stowage: NanoRacks Express Rack on ISS
History:
The sixth SSEP flight opportunity—for SSEP Mission 4 to the International Space Station—was announced by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) on November 15, 2012, with an accompanying Video Clip by Center Director, Dr. Jeff Goldstein.
Current Status:
As of March 11, 2014, the Mission 4 to ISS flight experiments returned to Earth on March 10, 2014.
A List of Important SSEP Mission 4 to ISS Subpages:
SSEP Mission 4 to ISS: Critical Timeline
SSEP Mission 4 to ISS: Mini-Laboratory Operation
SSEP Mission 4 to ISS: Mission Patch Art and Design Competition
SSEP Mission 4 to ISS: Flight Phase Operations
→ SSEP Mission 4 to ISS: Experiment Log
Launch Viewing Plans for Orb-1, Winter 2013