Step outside and take a look at the skies on the evening of May 23 into the early morning of May 24. Scientists are anticipating a new meteor shower, the May Camelopardalids. No one has seen it before, but the shower could put on a show that would rival the prolific Perseid meteor shower in …
SpaceX-3 Release: Today ISS CDR Swanson completed closeout of the Node 2 nadir vestibule, removed the final power jumpers and closed the Node 2 nadir hatch. He then depressed the vestibule and demated the Common Berthing Mechanism (CMB) bolts and latches. Using the Space Station Robotic Manipulator System (SSRMS) robotics ground controllers performed the SpaceX …
Double Cold Bag (DCB) Packing: ISS CDR Swanson and FE-1 Skvortsov packed six DCBs with conditioned science samples for return on SpaceX-3. SpaceX-3 Departure Preparations: Swanson completed the final SpaceX-3 cargo loading. He then completed the SpaceX-3 egress and vestibule closeout procedures, including installation of the Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Controller Panel Assemblies (CPAs). Finally, …
SpaceX-3 Dragon Cargo Packing: ISS CDR Swanson & FE-1 Skvortsov completed several cargo transfer activities today, including the transfer of all powered payloads for return. Dragon is now loaded with two Glaciers, one Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA), and a Biotube Micro (unpowered) in the powered middeck locker locations. Final transfer of the center stack …
Last night at 8:38:30 PM CDT, a basketball size meteoroid entered the atmosphere 63 miles above Columbia, South Carolina. Moving northwest at 78,000 miles per hour, it burned up 52 miles above the Tennessee country side, just north of Chattanooga. This fireball was not part of any meteor shower and belongs to a class of …
SpX-3 Dragon Departure Preps: Yesterday during during the crew day off, the SpX team performed a computer reboot to clear some error flags. Today Swanson checked out the COTS UHF Communication Unit (CUCU) Crew Command Pane (CCP) that will be used for commanding the Dragon vehicle during unberth operations. Dragon unberth and release is scheduled …
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2 is an Earth satellite mission to study carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound’s impacts on climate change. The mission is NASA’s first dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide from space. OCO-2 will launch on a Delta II 7320 rocket from …
37 Soyuz (37S) Undock and Landing: Expedition 39 Commander (CDR) Wakata, Flight Engineer (FE)-4 Tyurin and FE-5 Mastracchio closed the hatches to the 37S vehicle and undocked their spacecraft from the ISS today at 5:36 p.m. CDT, marking the start of Expedition 40. The Soyuz landed outside of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 8:58 p.m CDT. The …
Change of Command Ceremony: The Change of Command Ceremony was completed at the end of the crew day today in preparation for return of the 37S crew tomorrow. ISS CDR Wakata, handed over to Expedition 40 CDR Swanson. Undock tomorrow is scheduled at 5:36pm CDT with landing at 8:58pm CDT. Salivary Markers: On Sunday, FE-3 …
Direct Current Switching Unit (DCSU) 3A: The power system remains in a stable configuration following yesterday’s DCSU Channel 3A Remote Bus Isolator (RBI) 1 trip. DCSUs 3A and 3B were tied together and all power loads were recovered. Ground teams continue their investigation and are developing recovery plans. Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) relocation: SMILES …
