After launching from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral at 9:11:26 am MST April 18th on-board the Atlas V rocket, Ex-Alta 1 is now safely inside the International Space Station. Alberta’s first satellite arrived after a smooth four day ride onboard the S.S. John Glen Cygnus Spacecraft. The Cygnus was safely captured by astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Peggy Whitson (who has just set the record for most days in space at 534) with the assistance of the Canadarm2 at 4:05 am MST on April 22nd.

After successful capture, Pesquet radioed Houston and expressed his congratulations to everyone involved in the mission “The crew of Expedition 51 would like to congratulate all the teams at NASA, Orbital ATK and the contractors for a flawless cargo-delivery mission. We are very proud to welcome onboard the S.S. John Glenn. The more than three tons of pressurized cargo in the Cygnus spacecraft will be put to good use to continue our mission of research, exploration and discovery. Achievements like this, fruit of the hardwork by space agencies and private companies and the international cooperation across the world, are what truly makes the ISS such a special endeavor at the service of all mankind.” Echoing that statement, the AlbertaSat team is extremely proud to be involved in the OA-7 resupply and QB50 missions that could not have been achieved without international cooperation.

The next step in Ex-Alta 1’s journey is deployment from the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer at a date TBD. The AlbertaSat team is currently working hard on having all preparations in place for the 60 day commissioning phase that begins shortly after deployment from the ISS which will mark the beginning of Ex-Alta 1’s mission.

Photo credit: NASA/ESA