SpaceX today partnered with Northrop Grumman to deliver more than 8,000 pounds of cargo, fresh food and science experiments to astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The NG-20 resupply mission will lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at approximately 12:07 pm ET. Northrop's Cygnus cargo module will arrive at the International Space Station on February 1.

Since 2013, Northrop has used its own Antares rocket to launch Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station for resupply missions, except twice using United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket. But Northrop retired that version of the Antares rocket last year, and the next version - an all-American launch vehicle called the Antares 330 that the company is developing with Firefly Aerospace - won't enter service until around mid-2025.

Northrop and SpaceX both have multibillion-dollar contracts with NASA to deliver cargo and resupply missions to the International Space Station. Under the contract, SpaceX uses its Dragon capsule; this is its first launch of the Cygnus spacecraft.

Northrop is using Falcon 9, and Northrop Vice President Cyrus Dahlia said at a news conference last week that the change does not require any modifications to Cynus, reflecting the critical importance of both companies to the U.S. civilian space industry.

SpaceX has modified its own hardware to suit the spacecraft's needs: The company added a 5-foot-by-4-foot door to the payload fairing to allow for "late loading" of cargo, William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX's vice president of construction and flight reliability, said in the release. Loading cargo late in mission preparation or within 24 hours of launch enables the crew to add materials (such as ice cream) to the spacecraft after it is encapsulated in the fairing.

Gerstenmaier said adding a "gigadoor" to the fairing was particularly tricky because much of what's inside needs to remain environmentally controlled.

"It's a pretty intense activity," he said. "We made a lot of modifications to get the hardware ready for flight."

Cygnus will be docked with the International Space Station for approximately six months. During the attachment, it may use thrusters to raise the altitude of the ISS, which is affected by atmospheric drag - an important capability unique to Cygnus. At the end of the mission, astronauts will load the spacecraft with trash and other debris that will burn up in Earth's atmosphere.