The SS Sally Ride Cygnus spacecraft, developed by Northrop Grumman, was launched with an Antares rocket on Monday from Wallops Island, Virginia.

But the cargo delivery to crew aboard the ISS faced issues after one of its two solar arrays did not deploy as planned.

Despite the mishap, Northrop Grumman worked with Nasa to ensure Cygnus completed its primary mission of delivering approximately 3,700kg of supplies, equipment and experiments for the astronauts aboard the station.

Amongst the delivery were brackets needed for a spacewalk next week to expand the station’s power, as well as apples, blueberries, cheese, peanut butter and ice cream for the station’s US, Russian and Japanese crew of seven.

“During a rocket stage separation event, debris from an Antares acoustic blanket became lodged in one of the Cygnus solar array mechanisms, preventing it from opening,” said Cyrus Dhalla, vice-president and general manager, tactical space systems at Northrop Grumman...