NG-23 and Cygnus Head for the International Space Station

Image Credit:  Graham Smith - We Report Space

Cape Canaveral S.F.S. FL. – This evening, September 14, 2025 a Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Complex 40 taking the Northup Grumman (NG) 23 Cygnus mission to orbit. The Falcon 9’s engines roared to life at 6:11 PM EDT heading on a North-East trajectory to rendezvous with the International Space Station. 

Image Credit:  Michael Seeley - We Report Space

Flying this mission is booster B1094 and shortly after launch, the first stage booster made a successful landing at LZ-2 at Cape Canaveral S.F.S. Booster B1094 completed its fourth flight having previously supported Axiom 4, Crew 11 and one Starlink mission.

Image Credit:  Michael Seeley - We Report Space 

This Cygnus craft has been named S.S. William “Willie” C. McCool after the late astronaut who was lost during the reentry of the Space Shuttle Columbia along with the entire STS-107 crew in 2003.

The NG-23 Cygnus spacecraft is an XL (larger version) Cygnus that is taking more than 11,000 pounds of cargo, experiments and supplies to the International Space Station. Among the experiments will be those to test materials for semi-conductors crystals as well as pharmaceutical crystals.

Once Cygnus arrives at the space station, astronauts will use the Canadarm 2 to grab the craft and attach it to the Unity portion of the orbiting station. The current schedule is for Cygnus to reach the station for capture on Wednesday, September 17, 2025 where it will remain till March 2026. When Cygnus departs the station, it will be loaded with trash from the station where it will then de-orbit and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Story by: Michael Howard – We Report Space

Images by: Michael Seeley and Graham Smith – We Report Space