WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. — Northrop Grumman is making another supply run to the International Space Station. The speedy, special delivery includes pizza for the seven residents on board.
The company's newest Cygnus cargo ship rocketed away from Virginia's Eastern Shore on Tuesday. It should reach the space station Thursday.
The shipment includes fresh apples, tomatoes and kiwi, along with a pizza kit and cheese smorgasbord for the seven station astronauts.
It is Northrop Grumman's 16th supply run for NASA and its biggest one yet.
"Cargo resupply from U.S. companies ensures a national capability to deliver critical science research to the space station, significantly increasing NASA's ability to conduct new investigations at this laboratory in space," NASA wrote.
Among the investigations astronauts onboard the orbiting laboratory will get to investigate are 3D printing with dust, studying muscle loss with engineered tissue and analyzing the growth of slime mold.
A mounting bracket to help install the next pair of new solar arrays on the ISS will also make the trip on Tuesday's mission.
NASA astronaut Megan McArthur will get the honor of capturing the Cygnus spacecraft with the International Space Station's robotic arm on August 12 with the support of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
WTSP 10 Tampa Bay contributed to this report.
