Cygnus Spacecraft's Cargo Unloaded by Space Station Astronauts

The first commercial Cygnus spacecraft is moved into docking position by the International Space Station's robotic arm on Sept. 29, 2013 after arriving at the orbiting lab during a major test flight by spacecraft builder Orbital Sciences Corp. (Image credit: NASA TV)

Cargo delivered to the International Space Station by Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft is now completely unloaded from the commercial resupply ship and aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Astronauts on the space station opened Cygnus' hatch on Sept. 30 after its historic first launch atop an Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility on Sept. 18. After launch, mission controllers on the ground took Cygnus through a variety of test maneuvers before it was allowed to approach the station.

Once the supply ship leaves the station, it is designed burn up in Earth's atmosphere. International Space Station crewmembers have now loaded a layer of trash onto Cygnus. "The crew will be working this week loading the second layer of trash," Orbital Sciences officials wrote in a mission update on Oct. 7. The third layer will be loaded the week of Oct. 14, and the capsule is set to leave the station on Oct. 22, re-entering the atmosphere on Oct. 24, Orbital officials said.

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Miriam Kramer joined Space.com as a Staff Writer in December 2012. Since then, she has floated in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight, felt the pull of 4-Gs in a trainer aircraft and watched rockets soar into space from Florida and Virginia. She also served as Space.com's lead space entertainment reporter, and enjoys all aspects of space news, astronomy and commercial spaceflight. Miriam has also presented space stories during live interviews with Fox News and other TV and radio outlets. She originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee where she and her family would take trips to dark spots on the outskirts of town to watch meteor showers every year. She loves to travel and one day hopes to see the northern lights in person. Miriam is currently a space reporter with Axios, writing the Axios Space newsletter. You can follow Miriam on Twitter.