Northrop Grumman will make two missions to International Space Station in 2023

Falls Church contractor to perform cargo launches for NASA in 2023

Published November 12, 2020 by Sydney Lake

NASA awarded Northrop Grumman two additional commercial resupply missions to deliver cargo to the International Space Station using the company’s Cygnus spacecraft. Photo courtesy Northrop Grumman

NASA awarded two missions to Falls Church-based Fortune 100 defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. for 2023 launches that will deliver a combined total of approximately 16,500 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station.

“As a trusted and reliable partner to NASA, Northrop Grumman has played a critical role in keeping the International Space Station operational since 2014,” Frank DeMauro, Northrop Grumman vice president and general manager of tactical space systems, said in a statement. “With these additional flights to the orbiting laboratory, we will provide services to both NASA and our commercial partners and continue to use Cygnus not as just a cargo delivery and disposal vehicle, but as a platform for science and technology research and development opportunities.”

Under the Commercial Resupply Services contract-2 (CRS-2), Northrop Grumman has been providing resupply services to the station since 2016. For the missions announced Wednesday, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft will be carried into orbit by the company’s Antares launch vehicle from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia.

Northrop Grumman employs more than 90,000 people and reported $33.8 billion in 2019 revenue.