Private Cygnus Cargo Ship Leaves Space Station to Meet Fiery Doom

Cygnus is ready to take the plunge: This morning (Feb. 19), at 7:26 a.m. EST (1226 GMT), the International Space Station's robotic arm released the latest Orbital ATK cargo ship into open space so the unmanned spacecraft can end its resupply mission with a death dive into Earth's atmosphere. Once it is safely away from the station, the commercial Cygnus spacecraft will fire its engines twice to re-enter Earth's atmosphere and burn up over the Pacific Ocean. The supply craft, named the S.S. Deke Slayton II, arrived at the space station in December, carrying more than 7,700 lbs. (3,500 kilograms) of cargo — the most ever carried in a Cygnus craft. More

(Source: Space.com - Feb 20)