"Space Mission Honors Late Astronaut and Graduate with Cargo Spacecraft Name"

Northrop Grumman has named its first cargo spacecraft to fly on a SpaceX rocket, the S.S. Patricia "Patty" Hilliard Robertson, in honor of an astronaut who died from injuries sustained in a plane crash before she could launch to the International Space Station (ISS). The Cygnus supply ship is scheduled to lift off in January 2024 and will deliver crew supplies, equipment, and scientific experiments to the ISS. Robertson, a medical doctor and space medicine fellow, was chosen to become a NASA astronaut but tragically died in a private-plane crash in 2001. Northrop Grumman has delivered over 138,000 pounds of cargo to the space station over the past decade.