Blogs

Cygnus Status: After discontinuing rendezvous attempts on Monday, Cygnus continues to phase away from ISS on a coelliptic trajectory. As of 10:00 a.m. CDT, Cygnus was trailing ISS 4 km above and 850 km behind.  Uplink of the Relative Global Positioning System (RGPS) Software Patch and associated re-integration of the Cygnus Flight Computers is scheduled …

Cygnus Status: On Sunday, the joint operations teams discontinued the nominal rendezvous attempt with ISS when Cygnus’s Relative GPS (RGPS) System was unable to initialize. The problem stems from Cygnus GPS time reference not matching that of the JEM’s GPS time.  The A3 DV burn which was scheduled to occur this morning at 7:29 a.m. CDT …

Cygnus Status: In preparation for Cygnus operations this weekend, the crew was scheduled for a half-duty day today. Cygnus systems continue to function nominally.  The spacecraft performed its 4th planned phasing burn (DV-4) today at 1:11 p.m. CDT. NASA teams are reviewing the Demo 1 results this afternoon in preparation for Saturday’s ISS Mission Management …

Cygnus Status: Cygnus completed its far-field demonstrations today.  Delivery of the data package for Demo 1 (Position and Attitude Control) to NASA has been delayed due to TDRS communications issues. However, is expected to be delivered to NASA this evening.  Data packages for Demo 2a & 2b (Free Drift & Active Abort) were delivered to …

Cygnus Orbital Demo 1 (Orb-D1) Launch:  Orbital’s Antares rocket successfully launched today from Launch Pad 0A at Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, at 9:58 CDT.  The Cygnus spacecraft was successfully injected into orbit.  The vehicle’s solar arrays deployed as expected.  One issue ground teams are actively working is associated with the Cygnus communications system experiencing problems …

Advanced Colloids Experiment (ACE)-M-1:  Today Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Nyberg mixed a sample in the 9th of 10 wells of the ACE-M-1 experiment in the Fluids Integrated Rack facility.  ACE-M-1 is the first in a series of microscopic imaging investigations of materials which contain small colloidal particles which remain evenly dispersed and distributed within the material. …

Resist Tubule (Mechanisms of Gravity Resistance in Plants From Signal Transformation and Transduction to Response):  Today Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Nyberg attached a Plant Experiment Unit (PEU) with plant samples and the Dehumidifier inside the Cell Biology Experiment Unit (CBEF) and then activated the PEU program.  After 32 days of growth in the PEU an ISS …

Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE)-3 Experiment Runs:  Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Nyberg completed runs 23 through 26 out of a total of 42 runs planned as part of this experiment series.  InSPACE-3 studies the behavior of magnetic colloidal fluids which transition to a solid-like state by the formation and cross-linking of …

In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Crew Quarters (CQ) Cleaning – Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Nyberg cleaned the overhead CQ intake and exhaust ducts, fan and flow sensors. This routine maintenance was performed in preparation for the arrival of new ISS crewmembers later this month. Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE)-3 Experiment Runs:  FE-5 …

34S Soyuz Undock & Landing: Soyuz 34S undocked from the ISS Mini-Research Module (MRM)-2 bringing Commander (CDR) Viogradov, Flight Engineer (FE-2) Misurkin, and FE-3 Cassidy back to earth.  Prior to undocking, the crew performed leak checks on the vestibule, suits, and hatch between the descent module and the habitation module.  The undock command, which initiated …