Cygnus spacecraft leaves International Space Station, will burn up in atmosphere

The first privately built Cygnus cargo ship to visit the International Space Station detached from the orbiting lab Tuesday (Oct. 22) and is poised to destroy itself in Earth's atmosphere in a fiery finale to its successful test flight. The unmanned Cygnus spacecraft built by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., was released by astronauts using the station's robotic arm at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT) as both space vehicles sailed high above the Atlantic Ocean, east of Argentina. The spacecraft is expected to fire its rocket thrusters Wednesday (Oct. 23) to leave orbit and burn up in Earth's atmosphere. More

(Source: CBS News - Oct 23)