Blogs

After one day of delay due to extenuating circumstances in Kangerlussaq, we got the “OK” to fly across the ice sheet to Southeast Greenland. We gathered all of our gear from the Kangerlussaq International Science Support (KISS) center and headed off on a 1.5 hour flight on the C130 to the town of Kulusuk. Once […]

Human Research Program (HRP) Collections: Kelly continued his week-long saliva collections for the Microbiome and Salivary Markers experiments and inserted the samples into Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI).   Salivary Markers experiment aims to identify if there are any risks of an adverse health event in crewmembers due to an impaired immune …

On Saturday morning, April 4, 2015 not long before sunrise, the bright full moon over North America should turn a lovely shade of celestial red during a total lunar eclipse. Join NASA astronomer Mitzi Adams as she takes questions via Twitter @NASA_Marshall. For Twitter questions, use the hashtag #eclipse2015. The question and answer via Twitter will …

SpaceX is targeting Monday, April 13 to launch the next commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft is targeted for approximately 4:33 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA Television coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. A Monday launch …

Human Research Program (HRP) Collections: Kelly performed a suite of blood and saliva collections for the Microbiome, Salivary Markers, and Twins Study experiments.  He collected saliva and placed the collections into Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for a week in support of Microbiome and Salivary markers.  Today’s blood collection satisfies both …

The three newest Expedition 43 crew members joined Commander Terry Virts for emergency hardware familiarization Tuesday. Later, new cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko with NASA astronaut Scott Kelly got together for communication training with ground controllers while wearing emergency masks. The trio also worked throughout the day on station orientation and familiarization activities. Kelly …

1-Year Mission (1YM) Human Research Program (HRP) Science Operations: Kelly and Kornienko began their 1YM activities on Sunday when both crewmembers performed their first Fine Motor Skills test and Sleep log entries. Today they continued with their 1YM protocols, performing another Sleep Log and a morning Reaction Self Test.  The crew performed a second Reaction …

We made it to Greenland! On Thursday, Kip and I flew from Salt Lake City, Lora flew from Denver, Clement flew from Seattle, Lynn flew from DC, Josh flew from Madison, and we all met up in Clifton Park, NY. Only one bag was lost and later found, and one flight canceled. Although we have […]

Kelly and Kornienko will spend about a year on the space station to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space. Data from the one-year mission will be used to determine whether there are ways to further reduce the risks on future long-duration missions to an asteroid and …

42 Soyuz (42S) Launch/Dock: 42S launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 2:43 pm CDT today with Scott Kelly, Mikhail Kornienko, and Gennady Padalka onboard. Docking to the MRM- 2 module was completed 8:42 pm CDT with hatch opening at 10:33 pm CDT. Today’s docking increases the ISS crew compliment from 3 to 6 crewmembers. It …