Cygnus NG-24 S.S. Steven R. Nagel Launches to ISS — Booster Inaugurates New LZ-40 Landing Pad

SpaceX successfully launched Northrop Grumman's Cygnus NG-24 cargo spacecraft, named the S.S. Steven R. Nagel, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at precisely 7:41 a.m. EDT (11:41 UTC) on April 11, 2026. The mission — NASA Commercial Resupply Services NG-24 — carried nearly 11,000 pounds (approximately 5,000 kg) of supplies, equipment, and science experiments to the Expedition 74 crew aboard the International Space Station. The Cygnus XL spacecraft was named in honor of Steven R. Nagel, a NASA astronaut who flew four Space Shuttle missions (STS-51G, STS-61A, STS-37, STS-55) and logged over 720 hours in space. The mission had originally been scheduled for April 8 but was delayed three days due to unfavorable weather conditions at Cape Canaveral. The Falcon 9 first stage, booster B1094 on its seventh flight, separated cleanly and returned to Earth — landing at the newly inaugurated Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40), a new Return-to-Launch-Site landing pad recently constructed near SLC-40. This marked the inaugural use of LZ-40, the latest addition to SpaceX's expanding landing infrastructure at Cape Canaveral. The Cygnus spacecraft deployed into a 51.6-degree orbital inclination matching the ISS; capture by the station's Canadarm2 arm was scheduled for approximately 12:50 p.m. EDT (16:50 UTC) on April 13. SpaceX's 2026 orbital launch total rose to 45 with this mission, and all-time booster recovery count reached 598.