Since I last posted, HS3 has decided to give up on trying to fix AV-1, thus ending my time at NASA Wallops this hurricane season. We came to this decision so we would still have some time to get two of the instruments, including the one I work with, off AV-1 and moved onto a […]
38 Soyuz (38S) Undock and Landing: Expedition 40 Commander (CDR) Swanson, Flight Engineer (FE)-1 Skvortsov, and FE-2 Artemyev undocked from the ISS today at 6:01 p.m. CDT and landed in Kazakhstan at 9:23 p.m CDT. The crew’s return completes 167 days in space. 38S undock began Expedition 41 under the command of Maxim Suraev. Suraev, …
Change of Command Ceremony: The Change of Command Ceremony occurred at the end of the crew day today in preparation for return of the 38S Crew tomorrow. ISS CDR Swanson, handed over to Expedition 41 CDR Suraev. Undock tomorrow is scheduled at 6:01pm CDT with landing at 9:23pm CDT. Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental …
At approximately midnight local time on the night of September 6 (September 7, 6 UTC), a loud explosion was heard in an area near Managua, Nicaragua. A crater some 39 feet in diameter was found near 86.2 degrees west longitude, 12.2 degrees north latitude, in good agreement with the reports of explosive sounds. It has …
Energy: Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Gerst continued taking urine samples and eating a special diet over the weekend for the Energy investigation. FE-5 Wiseman also collected urine samples as the control subject. Today, Wiseman and Gerst continued with the Energy investigation. Energy measures change in energy balance in crewmembers following long term space flight. Energy also …
The Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research, or 4STAR, is an airborne instrument that measures aerosols (small particles suspended in the atmosphere), gases (ozone for example), and a variety of cloud properties. Currently it is being deployed on the NASA C-130 aircraft on its quest to measure aerosol and cloud properties in the Arctic, helping to […]
NanoRacks CubeSat Deployers (NRCSD): Utilizing the JEM Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS), Ground controllers performed an emergency stop shake test on the NRCSD. No deployments were observed during this time. However, after roughly 7 hours, an additional door (#7) was observed to be open, implying an inadvertent deploy during the morning of the crew workday. The …
NanoRacks CubeSat Deployers: Additional attempts to launch CubeSats from deployers #4, 7, and 8 were made overnight without success. 24 commands were sent attempting to deploy #4, 30 commands were sent to deployer #7, and 17 deploy commands were sent to deployer #8. Ground Teams are continuing to assess the issue and are working on …
NanoRacks CubeSat Deployers: Overnight, ground teams attempted deployment of three undeployed launchers (#4, 7, 8) without success. Additional deploy attempts are being planned this evening. Sprint Evaluation of Maximal Oxygen Uptake and Submaximal Estimates of VO2max Before, During, and After Long Duration International Space Station Missions (VO2Max): Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Wiseman set up the Portable …
After a lengthy waiting period, we have successfully deployed our instrumentation to make aerosol measurements inside a tropical storm/hurricane. As of our last post, instrumentation was mounted aboard the NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft but we were awaiting installation of an inlet. This is not a trivial task, as any structure mounted to the exterior of […]
