The NG-20 mission has flown the Cygnus spacecraft S.S. Patricia Hilliard Robertson to a path that will take it to the International Space Station. However, as a first, it has launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 instead of an Antares rocket. This will be the first of three Cygnus missions to fly aboard Falcon 9 for Northrop Grumman to fulfill its cargo delivery contract while the new Antares 330 is under development.
NG-20 successfully launched on Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 12:07 PM EST (17:07 UTC) from SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. B1077-10 flew on a trajectory inclined to 51.6 degrees to the equator so that the Cygnus spacecraft will be in the same orbital plane as the Station. After stage separation, the booster successfully conducted a return to launch site (RTLS) landing and touch down at Landing Zone 1.