NASA will provide live coverage of the departure of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station on Thursday, March 12. This event marks the conclusion of the Cygnus spacecraft’s delivery of over 11,000 pounds of essential science, supplies, hardware, and other cargo to support Expedition 73 aboard the orbiting laboratory.
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The undocking and departure sequence is scheduled to commence at 6:45 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Viewers can tune into NASA+, Amazon Prime, or the agency’s official YouTube channel to watch the event live. The agency also offers ways to access its content through various online platforms and social media channels.
Ground-based flight controllers will issue commands to the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, which will detach the Cygnus XL from its berth on the Unity module’s Earth-facing port. The robotic arm will then maneuver the spacecraft into position for its release. European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot will oversee the Cygnus spacecraft’s systems during its departure.
Following its detachment from the space station, the Cygnus XL is slated to deorbit on Saturday, March 14. During its controlled reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will safely burn up, disposing of several thousand pounds of trash.
The Cygnus XL spacecraft was originally launched in September 2025 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This particular mission is notable as it is the inaugural flight of an enhanced, larger version of the solar-powered Cygnus spacecraft, designed to carry an increased cargo capacity.
For more information on this NASA commercial resupply mission, further details can be found on the NASA website.
Article by Mel Anara, based upon information from NASA News
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