Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft will undock from the International Space Station on Friday, Oct. 9, wrapping up a six-month resupply mission managed by NASA's Johnson Space Center.

The departure caps the company's Commercial Resupply Services-24 mission (CRS-24), which delivered more than 11,000 pounds of supplies and science experiments to the station. NASA will broadcast the undocking live beginning at 12:30 p.m. EDT at nasa.gov/live.

Flight controllers on the ground will command the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach the spacecraft from the Unity module's Earth-facing port and maneuver it into release position at 12:45 p.m. EDT.

NASA astronaut Luke Delaney will monitor the operation from aboard the station. Delaney, a retired Marine Corps aviator with more than 3,900 flight hours, launched to the ISS on Oct. 1 as pilot of NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission.

On Oct. 1, the day he launched, Delaney told CW39 Houston his crew's research agenda includes studying blood flow and fluid shifts in microgravity, characterizing stem cells and developing plant habitats aboard the station.

The CRS-24 spacecraft launched April 11 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. According to NASA's launch announcement, the cargo included a module to advance quantum science research, hardware to produce therapeutic stem cells for blood diseases and cancer, model organisms to study the gut microbiome and a receiver to enhance space weather models that protect GPS and radar systems.

Northrop Grumman named the spacecraft the S.S. Steven R. Nagel, honoring the former NASA astronaut who flew four shuttle missions and logged 723 hours in space.

Now loaded with thousands of pounds of disposal items, the Cygnus XL is scheduled to deorbit Sunday, Oct. 11, for a destructive re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, where it will safely burn up. NASA said it will not provide coverage of the deorbit.