Each CTC is a re-configurable container with the capability to accommodate up to five ISS hardware units, known as Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs).

The ORUs consist of various spare hardware, such as heat exchangers and electronics control units, which will be stored aboard the ISS and used if original components need to be replaced.

Orbital's Technical Services Division, based in Greenbelt, MD, was responsible for carrying out design, manufacturing and testing of the CTC units for NASA.

Orbital performed its work on the CTC program under contract to NASA's ISS Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. The company designed, built and tested the five CTCs, as well as 25 ORU adapter kits for the ISS.

Each CTC measures about 4 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet and is capable of carrying about 400 pounds of hardware to the ISS. The reusable containers will be delivered to the ISS on future flights of the Space Shuttle. Once aboard the ISS, the CTCs can be stored at various locations on the outside of the Space Station until the ORUs are needed.

The CTCs can be opened and their contents retrieved either through robotic methods or by astronauts performing extravehicular operations.

Orbital has been designing, manufacturing, integrating and flying various payload carriers such as the CTCs for NASA for more than 20 years. Several notable projects that the company has successfully completed include the Solar Array Carrier for the first servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Airborne Support Equipment Carrier used on the deployment mission of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS).

Orbital is currently leading the development of the Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier, made of composite materials, which will support the next HST servicing mission.

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