The second enhanced-Cygnus cargo craft, Cygnus OA-6 (Rick Husband), undocked from the ISS (International Space Station) at 1143 GMT on 14 June 2016, and was released at 1330 GMT. For the return trip 1,854 kg of waste was loaded onto the craft.
The secondary post-undocking mission for the Cygnus craft is the SAFFIRE-1 (Spacecraft Fire Experiment-1) experiment which is designed to investigate how large fires spread in microgravity. The experiment was started at 2055 GMT on 14 June, by Orbital ATK controllers, after been given the go-ahead from NASA. Data from the two cameras and multitude of sensors watching the experiment which lasted eight days. Additional SAFFIRE experiments are planned to installed on-board the two following CYGNUS missions, OA-5 and OA-7, both planned for this year.
On 20 June, five LEMUR cubesats were due to be deployed for Spire Inc, California, from a dispenser installed on the outside of the Cygnus craft. In the event only four of the five were deployed with a fault preventing the deployment of the fifth.
The cargo craft was deliberately re-entered and safely broke up over the South Pacific, after hitting the atmosphere at, 1305 GMT on 22 June. A Reentry Breakup Recorder (REBR) transmitted data about the state of the craft during the re-entry.
