NASA Set Cygnus Cargo Ship on Fire After Leaving ISS as Part of Experiment Written 12 February 2021
The station's Canadarm2 robotic arm captures the Cygnus cargo craft. | NASA
SPACE reports that the Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment-V (Saffire-V), “which occurred after a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft departed the International Space Station on Jan. 6, is the latest in a series of fire studies to protect astronauts on long-term missions.” Saffire-V “lasted 26 hours, then the Cygnus spacecraft, which was filled with trash, burned up safely in Earth’s atmosphere as planned.” The experiment “involved lowering the spacecraft pressure and filling it with oxygen similar to what humans may breathe in future spacecraft.” The data gathered from the experiment “could improve fire detection and assist with cleanup after a fire, NASA said in a statement.” NASA “plans to fly another Saffire experiment to the space station, although the agency has not specified when it will fly or what the new experiment will study.”
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