Northrop Grumman CRS-25 launch targeted for Nov. 29

NASA said a Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL spacecraft was targeted to launch no earlier than 10:49 a.m. EST, Sunday, Nov. 29, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch was set for the mission known as NASA's Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 25, or NASA's Northrop Grumman CRS-25. The spacecraft was scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

NASA said astronauts aboard the space station would use the Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture Cygnus following launch. They would install the spacecraft at the Unity module's Earth-facing port for cargo unloading.

The spacecraft was scheduled to remain at the space station until May 2027. NASA described it as the company's 25th spacecraft built to deliver supplies to the International Space Station under contract with NASA.

Cygnus would deliver hardware to manufacture tiny, DNA-inspired particles in space that could improve drug delivery for cancer and osteoarthritis. It would also carry a study that could guide cancer treatments by predicting whether a patient's cancer was likely to spread to other parts of the body.

NASA said Cygnus would carry human muscle cells and medications to test therapeutics for muscle loss associated with spaceflight and aging on Earth. The spacecraft would also carry a compact radiation sensor designed to improve crew safety on future missions.

NASA said each resupply mission to the station delivered scientific investigations in biology and biotechnology, Earth and space science, physical sciences, and technology development and demonstrations. Cargo resupply from U.S. companies ensured a national capability to deliver scientific research to the station and increased NASA's ability to conduct new investigations aboard the space station.

NASA said people had lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station for 26 years. The agency described the station as an important testbed for understanding and overcoming challenges of long-duration spaceflight and expanding commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit. It said NASA was focusing resources on deep space missions to the Moon as part of the Artemis and Moon Base programs to build a foundation for the first astronaut missions to Mars.