New Status: Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations: Last evening Robotics Ground Controllers powered up the MSS and the Crew unbolted and unlatched Dragon from the Node 2 Nadir Common Berthing System (CBM). Ground controllers then uninstalled Dragon using the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and maneuvered it to the release position. After the crew …
New Status: SpaceX-2 Dragon Cargo Transfers and Departure Preparation: Commander (CDR) Chris Hadfield and Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Tom Marshburn loaded five full coldbags and an active GLACIER with returning science samples into the Dragon vehicle forward rack, and at 8:25 am CDT closed the Dragon hatch. Afterwards they configured the Dragon Pressurized Segment for closeout …
Last night (March 22) at around 8 p.m. EDT, a meteoroid with a boulder size of ~1 yard in diameter entered the atmosphere above Pennsylvania and moved southeast, passing just south of New York City. It went dark over the Atlantic Ocean, and may have produced meteorites which dropped harmlessly into the water below. This …
New Status: SpaceX-2 Unberth Delay: The SpaceX Dragon vehicle unberth and departure from ISS was scheduled for Monday March 25th but has been deferred due to rough seas predicted at the splash-down location. The new unberth and departure date is Tuesday March 26, 2013. On-board Training (OBT) for Emergency Response: All 3 crewmembers participated in this training. …
New Status: Marangoni Inside (MI) Fluid Physics Experiment Facility (FPEF): In preparation for the start of the experiment tonight, Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Tom Marshburn installed the sample cassette in the FPEF. The experiment will run through early July during crew sleep. Marangoni convection is the flow driven by the presence of a surface tension gradient which …
Images were taken by Rob Suggs and Aaron Kingery in twilight through cirrus clouds around 00:36 UT on 17 Mar 2013 with a 14 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at Marshall Space Flight Center’s Automated Lunar and Meteor Observatoryin Huntsville, Ala. The detector was a low-light level B&W video camera with a focal reducer giving a 20 …
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 …
