The Cygnus CRS OA-7 cargo spacecraft, SS John Glenn, makes its way to the International Space Station three days after its launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, on an Atlas 5 rocket on 18 April.
Among its three and half tonnes of cargo are crew supplies, vehicle hardware and science experiments is the Aalto-2 cube satellite making its space debut.
The first Finnish satellite in space, the Aalto-2 was designed and built by students from Aalto University. The satellite is part of the international QB50 mission that aims to study the layer between Earth’s atmosphere and space known as the ‘thermosphere.’ Part of a constellation of other nanosatellites, Aalto-2 will be released from the Station within a month from the Japanese Kibo module that has a spring-loaded satellite launcher.
CubeSats are miniature satellites that weigh between 1 and 10 kg designed to test new space technologies and often used for Earth observation missions.
Cygnus is an American spacecraft built by Orbital ATK and uses a pressurised hull designed in Europe by Thales Alenia Space.