The Expedition 44 crew is back at work after taking precautions as a piece of orbital debris safely passed the International Space Station this morning. Meanwhile, three new crew members are conducting final preparations before next week’s launch to the orbital laboratory. Mission Control in Houston tracked a fragment of an old weather satellite and …
Crew Back to Work After Orbital Debris Precautions
Mission Control Gives All Clear of Debris; Crew Resuming Normal Operations
The crew of the International Space Station is resuming normal operations after getting an all clear from Mission Control following a close pass by space debris this morning at 7:01 a.m. CDT. All station systems are operating normally and the crew will move out of the Soyuz spacecraft in which they stayed during the debris …
Station Crew Takes Precautions for Close Pass of Space Debris
The crew of the International Space Station has moved into the Soyuz vehicle docked to the station as a precaution due to an anticipated close approach of a piece of space debris to the orbiting complex. The debris is expected to pass closest to the station at about 7:01 a.m. CDT July 16, 2015. The …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 07/15/15
NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) Operations: Overnight and this morning ground teams deployed 6 more Cubesats for a total of 12 of 16 planned. Final deployments are scheduled for 5:50 PM CDT today and 12:30 AM CDT tomorrow. The complement consists of 14 Planet Lab Doves, 1 Arkyd-3 and 1 Centennial-1 satellite. Integrated Resistance and Aerobic …
Crew Busy with Advanced Science During Historical Week
The three Expedition 44 crew members commemorated today the July 15, 1975, launch of the Apollo and Soyuz spaceships that would dock two days later. The day before, the crew celebrated the successful Pluto flyby of the New Horizons spacecraft. Then it was back to work as the station residents continued space research and orbital …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 07/14/15
NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) Operations: Overnight there was an issue with a NRCSD deploy. Ground teams sent the command but only one door opened. Later during a night pass it was discovered that the CubeSat had deployed. Ground teams met and agreed to go forward with an additional deploy which was completed successfully. So far …
Station Crew Congratulates Pluto Team after Flyby
As the Expedition 44 crew orbited above the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour the New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto this morning at more than 30,000 mph. New Horizons’ closest approach was about 7,750 miles above the dwarf planet’s surface after a nine-year trip. The International Space Station has been orbiting at an average …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 7/13/15
NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) Operations: On Saturday Kelly completed final preparations for a series of deployments of CubeSats from a NRCSD by performing a leak check of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock (AL) and venting residual air. Kelly opened the outer hatch and extended the JEMAL slide table to the JEM Exposed Facility (JEF) …
SAGE III/ISS to Study Earth’s Ozone Layer from the Space Station
The SAGE III/ISS instrument has been undergoing rigorous testing and review leading up to the scheduled 2016 launch. Flight components are being put through a battery of environmental tests to ensure that they will perform as planned while withstanding the rigors of launch and the harsh environment of space.