After hanging out at the International Space Station for a month, a commercial cargo ship is diving toward Earth -- and it's filled to the brim with more than 3,000 pounds of garbage.
Astronauts living on board the ISS used a robotic arm to release the Cygnus supply ship around 5 a.m. ET on Friday, parting ways as the station whizzed 260 miles above Africa's southwest coast.
Preparing to release the #Cygnus cargo spaceship from #ISS in 50 mins w/ robotic arm. Watch live from 10:15 UTC on http://t.co/ZVBZOWgZzn— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) August 15, 2014
The unmanned commercial spacecraft -- built by the Orbital Sciences Corp., which has a contract with NASA -- launched from Virginia in July. It was carrying 3,000 pounds of cargo for the ISS that included food, science equipment, mini-satellites and even odor-resistant exercise clothing for astronauts.
Cygnus, however, won't ever reach Earth's surface. Orbital Sciences will drive the ship through the atmosphere, where it will burn up on Sunday. The six space station crew members will attempt to catch it all on camera.
The footage is purely for scientific reasons, of course: The station's life will come to an end in a decade or so, and space agencies operating there want to learn more about atmospheric re-entry. However, we can't ignore the fact that the fiery display is going to be freakin' rad.
"All the best wishes," German astronaut Alexander Gerst said as Cygnus took its dive to Earth.
