Cygnus cargo ship leaves International Space Station, begins new mission in orbit

Northrop Grumman's Cygnus NG-12 cargo spacecraft departed the International Space Station today (Jan. 31), nearly three months after it arrived at the orbiting laboratory with about 4 tons of supplies and science experiments for the Expedition 61 crew. The cargo vessel, named the S.S. Alan Bean after the Apollo 12 astronaut, began its journey back to Earth after ground controllers in Houston used the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to release it in orbit. Before the spacecraft meets its fiery demise in Earth's atmosphere, it will spend about a month in orbit deploying various scientific payloads. More

(Source: Space.com - Feb 1)