SS Ellison Onizuka sets off to ISS on a supply run, deliveries include pizzas

Northrop Grumman launched its cargo ship from
Virginia with deliveries for astronauts stationed at the International Space
Station on Tuesday.

The company’s Cygnus cargo ship rocketed away
with supplies that include pizzas for the seven astronauts. The rocket is
scheduled to dock at the International Space Station on Thursday.

The 8,200-pound (3,700-kilogram) shipment
includes fresh apples, tomatoes, and kiwi, along with a pizza kit and cheese
smorgasbord for the seven astronauts, The Associated Press reported.

The rocket is also delivering a mounting
bracket for new solar wings launching to the orbiting lab next year, a material
simulating moon dust and dirt that will be used to create items from the space
station’s 3D printer, slime mold for a French educational experiment called
Blob and an infrared-detecting device meant as a prototype for future tracking
satellites, according to the AP report.

The launch is Northrop Grumman’s 16th supply
run for NASA and its biggest load yet. The company’s Antares rocket hoisted the
capsule from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

“Aloha to the S.S. Ellison Onizuka,” Northrop
Grumman said via Launch Control minutes before liftoff. The capsule was named
for Hawaii’s Onizuka, the first Asian American in space who died in the 1986
Challenger launch disaster.

According to NASA officials, the SS Ellison
Onizuka will remain attached to the space station for approximately three
months. At the end of its mission, the space station astronauts will load it
with trash before sending it off for a destructive reentry into the Earth’s
atmosphere. (The freighter will burn up in the atmosphere and poses no threat
to anyone on Earth.)

NASA‘s other shipper, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, will
follow with another cargo run in a few weeks’ time.

The space station is currently home to three
Americans, two Russians, one French, and one Japanese.