Engine troubles hamper Northrop Grumman resupply mission to International Space Station

A Northrop Grumman cargo spacecraft on a resupply run to the International Space Station has been waylaid in orbit due to mechanical troubles.

The uncrewed resupply mission, the 23rd commercial services mission that the Virginia aeronautics and defense company has undertaken on behalf of NASA, got off the ground Sunday, Sept. 14 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Northrop Grumman spacecraft, a Cygnus vehicle, was then due to dock Wednesday, Sept. 17 at the orbital outpost with a delivery of supplies and science experiments for the seven astronauts aboard .

NASA and Northrop Grumman, though, have delayed the spacecraft's arrival after an issue with its main engine was detected .

Flight engineers are now determining a new target arrival date for Cygnus, one of four vehicles contracted to transport cargo  and other supplies to the orbital laboratory.

Here's what to know about the Northrop Grumman cargo resuppy mission and why it was delayed.

NASA, Northrop Grumman delay arrival of resupply vehicle to ISS

Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft, on a mission known as NG-23, managed to reach a safe altitude Sunday, Sept. 14 and  deploy its two solar arrays  needed to generate energy from the sun.

But the vehicle then encountered trouble when its main engine  stopped earlier than it was supposed to amid two engine burns meant to raise the spacecraft's orbit as it approached the space station , according to NASA.

That means Cygnus will not arrive Sept. 17 at the ISS as intended. Instead, a new arrival date and time will soon be determined as flight controllers evaluate an alternate plan for the resupply spacecraft, NASA said in a blog post Sept. 16.

When did Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL launch from Florida on SpaceX Falcon 9?

The Nortrhop Grumman spacecraft  launched at 6:11 p.m. on Sept. 14 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, located just south of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The company's latest version of its spacecraft, a larger iteration known as the Cygnus XL, is planning to deliver 11,000 pounds of scientific investigations and cargo to the orbiting laboratory for NASA. That includes dozens of  research experiments  that will be conducted during Expedition 73, according to NASA.

When Cygnus does arrive, NASA astronauts Jonny Kim  and  Zena Cardman  have been tasked with capturing Cygnus using the station’s robotic arm. They will then install the spacecraft on the Earth-facing port of the station's  Unity module , where the crew lives and works.

Russian Progress 93 reaches station days before Cygnus launch

The Cygnus XL would be the latest cargo spacecraft to reach the station in recent weeks.

The Progress 93 from Roscosmos, packed with three tons of food, fuel, and supplies, arrived at the orbital outpost Saturday, Sept. 13  when it docked to the  Zvezda service module ’s aft port.  It will remain docked for about six months before it reenters Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew.

The vehicle had launched Sept. 11 on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a spaceport Russia's space agency Roscosmos operates within Kazakhstan.

A SpaceX Dragon also recently reached the space station Aug. 25 with 5,000 pounds of supplies from Cape Canaveral on the CRS-33 mission.

Who is on the International Space Station?

Seven people are living aboard the International Space Station.

That includes four astroanuts who are part of a joint NASA and SpaceX mission known as Crew-11 . NASA astronaut Zena Cardman; NASA astronaut Mike Fincke ; Japanese astronaut  Kimiya Yui  of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA); and Russian Oleg Platonov, a Roscosmos cosmonaut.

Crew-11 launched Aug. 1 from the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacefarers made their venture to space aboard a Dragon capsule that was propelled into orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Also aboard the station is NASA astronaut Jonny Kim,  who reached the ISS in April  with cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Northrop Grumman cargo ship delayed in trip to space station