Free Republic

Northop Grumman's robotic Cygnus cargo ship launched toward the ISS this morning (Nov. 7) from Virginia, packed with more than 4.1 tons (3.7 metric tons) of food and other supplies for the astronauts aboard the orbiting lab. The launch went smoothly, but Cygnus encountered some trouble after separating from its Antares rocket ride: The freighter has managed to unfurl just one of its two solar arrays. Mission team members are working to troubleshoot the glitch, but Cygnus may still be able to power its way to the space station for a scheduled Wednesday (Nov. 9) meetup even if a fix...

Northrop Grumman/Government Team Shapes Aviation History With Sonic Boom TestsEL SEGUNDO, Calif. --- Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems sector, in cooperation with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA, has made aviation history by demonstrating a method to reduce the bone-jarring impact of sonic booms, a technology that could usher in a new era of supersonic flight.     In flights conducted Aug. 27 on the same supersonic test range where Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier nearly 56 years ago, the government/industry team showed that modifying an aircraft's shape can reduce the intensity of its sonic...