Electrostatic Levitation Furnaces 1 and 2 (ELF 1 & 2) Setup: Kelly and Peake set up the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) ELF equipment for installation in the Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack 2 (MSPR2) work volume in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). The crew was unable to complete all of the installation activities today. They …
Preparation continues for Tim Peake and Tim Kopra for Friday’s 7:55 a.m. EST spacewalk. Today, they will be re-familiarizing themselves with the tools needed to perform the Sequential Shunt Unit (SSU) change out. Aside from spacewalk preparation, Commander Scott Kelly and Tim Peake will also be setting up the JAXA Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) equipment. It …
The maps above, featured in our January 9, 2016 Image of the Day, show soil composition across the United States (bottom) and the space available for water to reside within those soil types (top). Douglas Miller—a soil, informatics, and remote sensing expert at Penn State—compiled the dataset on which the map is based (soil characteristics for the conterminous United States, or […]
Neuromapping: Kopra completed a NeuroMapping Neurocognitive test on a Human Research Facility laptop. The Neuromapping experiment studies whether long-duration spaceflight causes any changes to the brain, including brain structure and function, motor control, and multi-tasking; as well as measuring how long it takes for the brain and body to recover from those possible changes. Previous …
By Christine Dow We have arrived back safe and sound after 11 days crossing the Southern Ocean. Our exit from Jang Bogo involved one last (very short) helicopter ride taking us to the Araon icebreaker so that they didn’t have to re-break ice to get back into port. I stayed up till the wee hours […]
Astronauts Tim Peake and Tim Kopra continue to prepare for their 6.5 hour spacewalk on Friday of this week. During the spacewalk they will be replacing a failed voltage regulator which will return power to one of the eight power channels. Meanwhile, Commander Scott Kelly is gathering hardware for the fluid shifts experiment. Tomorrow, he …
Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Status: Following yesterday’s pretreated urine leak discovery and cleanup, today Peake worked to successfully change out the WHC Pump Separator, Wring Collector (COT), Air Filter, Liquid Indicator and Electrical cables. WHC has since been activated and is operating nominally. Robotics Refueling Mission (RRM): Last night, ground controllers transferred RRM …
Two astronauts were back at work today preparing the spacesuits and tools they will use next week during a maintenance spacewalk. The crew also wrapped up some plumbing work while continuing a wide variety of space science. Flight Engineers Tim Kopra and Tim Peake checked out their U.S. spacesuits ensuring a good fit and readied …
“Since its discovery, Pluto has proven consistently troublesome to the theorist.” – Sir Patrick Moore, The Observer’s Book of Astronomy (1971) Written 45 years ago, these words are more appropriate today than Moore could have ever imagined. Greetings, I’m Dr. Orkan Umurhan, a scientist on New Horizons’ Geology and Geophysics Investigation (GGI) Team. Pluto’s surface …
Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Liquid Carryover Issue: This morning, the liquid carryover sensor in the WHC annunciated resulting in a shutdown of the WHC. This sensor is downstream of the Wring Collector (COT) and detects an overflow condition in the WHC. This afternoon, when the crew opened the WHC panel, they found a large …
