Blogs

New Status: Amine Swingbed Payload Review:  Commander (CDR) Hadfield unstowed Amine from its temporary stowage configuration inside Express Rack 8 and placed it in the payload’s double locker chassis. Then he re-assembled the payload in its normal operating configuration. This task follows Kevin Ford’s troubleshooting activities earlier this month when he replaced the Amine gear box.  …

New Status: SpaceX (SpX)-2 Cargo Operations:  Commander (CDR) Hadfield and Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Marshburn loaded cargo in preparation for unberth scheduled on March 25, 2013. Marangoni Inside (MI) Core Cleaning:  Following yesterday’s completion of this experiment, Marshburn cleaned the inside of the Marangoni core.  When he was finished cleaning he powered off the camcorder to terminate real …

New Status: Coarsening in Solid Liquid Mixture 3 (CSLM-3) Experiment: Over the weekend Hadfield transferred data from the 3rd sample and started the 4th of 6 runs of this experiment. CSLM-3 is a materials science investigation that studies the growth and solidification processes (i.e., coarsening) in lead-tin solid-liquid mixtures that contain a small amount of tin branch-like …

New Status: 32 Soyuz (S) Undock & Landing: Following a delay in undocking yesterday due to adverse weather conditions, 32 Soyuz undocked from ISS tonight at 6:43pm CDT bringing Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin back to earth.  The Soyuz performed a nominal automated de-orbit burn and following a nominal separation of modules, descended successfully under parachutes.  The …

New Status: 32 Soyuz (S) Undock Preparation: The Soyuz Landing Commission postponed the 32S landing by one day due to weather conditions at the landing site near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan.  Specialists are continuing to monitor the weather conditions at the landing site, and ground teams are re-working the landing plan for tomorrow. Spinal Ultrasound: Marshburn completed his second …

The crew is starting to sleep shift this evening in preparation for 32S undock tomorrow evening. New Status: Change of Command:  Off-going Commander (CDR) Ford will hand over ISS command responsibilities to CDR Hadfield at approximately 4:10 pm CDT.  The change of command is more than ceremonial, as it defines the point when the 33Soyuz …

New Status: Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Maintenance:  After 24 hrs of successful run time, the Lab CDRA fixed yesterday has been put in stand-by mode. Biological Research In Canisters-17: Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Marshburn unpacked and performed actuation of 2 BRIC canisters.  BRIC supports a variety of plant growth investigations which focus on the growth and …

New Status: Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Maintenance: Over the weekend, Commander (CDR) Ford and Flight Engineer (FE) – 6 Marshburn completed maintenance on the Node 3 (N3) CDRA and reinstalled it in the Atmosphere Revitalization 2 (AR2) rack in N3.  N3 CDRA was activated on Saturday and has accumulated over 36 hrs of operation using …

New Status: Node 3 (N3) Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Maintenance:  Commander (CDR) Ford and Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Marshburn began CDRA maintenance yesterday and are scheduled to complete the multi-day task on Saturday. Over the last 2 days, they installed the 2 new Desiccant / Sorbent beds delivered on SpX-2 in the Node 3 (N3) …

So how can we tell that the Russian meteor isn’t related to asteroid 2012 DA14?One way is to look at meteor showers — the Orionids all have similar orbits to their parent comet, Halley. Similarly, the Geminids all move in orbits that closely resemble the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which produced them. So if the Russian …