Cygnus XL Cargo Spacecraft: Before & After Undocking | International Space Station

Cygnus XL Cargo Spacecraft: Before & After Undocking | International Space Station

Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft is held in the grip of the Canadarm2 robotic arm before its release from the International Space Station. The orbital outpost was soaring 264 miles above the North Atlantic Ocean at the time of this photograph. 

Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft departs the International Space Station 263 miles above the North Atlantic Ocean after being released from the grip of the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Cygnus XL reentered Earth's atmosphere three days later burning up harmlessly over the Pacific Ocean completing a six-month resupply mission at the orbital outpost.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft, with its prominent cymbal‑shaped UltraFlex solar arrays, is pictured berthed to the International Space Station’s Unity module.

Hurricane Lowell was a Category 4 storm in the Pacific Ocean southeast of Hawaii when this photograph was captured from the International Space Station as it orbited 258 miles above Earth.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft fires its engines while berthed to the Unity module, lifting the International Space Station’s orbit. The orbital reboost placed the station at the correct altitude for the rendezvous and docking of the Progress 96 resupply ship. 

Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft is pictured berthed to the International Space Station's Earth-facing port on the Unity module. At the bottom is one of two cymbal‑shaped UltraFlex solar arrays attached to Cygnus XL's service module that provide navigation, power, and propulsion for the spacecraft. The orbital outpost was soaring 257 miles above the Arabian Sea, heading into an orbital sunset at the time of this photograph.

At 12:44 p.m. EDT, October 9, 2026, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL was released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm after it detached from the Earth-facing port of the International Space Station’s Unity module.

Cygnus XL successfully departed the orbiting laboratory nearly six months after arriving with about 11,000 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo for NASA and its international partners as part of the Commercial Resupply Services Mission 24 (CRS-24).

Mission controllers commanded the spacecraft to deorbit on Monday, Oct. 12, carrying several thousand pounds of disposal items and other unneeded cargo into Earth’s atmosphere, where it "harmlessly" burned up during re-entry. NASA did not provide coverage of the deorbit. 

Learn more about NASA's Commercial Resupply Missions:
https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/commercial-resupply/

Follow Expedition 75:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 75 Crew
Station Commander: Pyotr Dubrov 
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Anna Kikina, Sergey Teteryatnikov

Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Flight Engineer: Joshua Kutryk

NASA Flight Engineers: Anil Menon, Jessica Watkins, Luke Delaney 

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Image Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center, A. Menon, S. Adenot

Image Dates: Aug. 27-Oct. 9, 2026

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