53 Progress (53P) Re-dock: On Wednesday, 53P undocked from the Russian Segment Service Module (SM), remained in orbit, then performed a test to re-rendezvous and dock with ISS today which was performed nominally at 7:15am CDT. The test demonstrated vehicle ability to automatically complete a full rendezvous and docking with the Kurs-NA System. 53P is …
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of these basins as well as the deepest. Its expanse runs 155 million square miles and contains “more than half of the free water on earth.” The CLIVAR P16S field campaign has entered the waters of the South Pacific knows as a subtropical gyre. Gyre means “circular or spiral motion.” In the ocean, wind generated surface currents travel in a circular direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise, forming a large, circular body of water. Blooms (large cell numbers) of phytoplankton cannot grow in these gyres because the water that piles up within the center of circulation is nutrient deficient.
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #26: Today, Mastracchio (EV1) and Swanson (EV2) successfully performed an EVA to remove and replace External (EXT)-2 Multiplexer/Demultiplexer (MDM). Once the MDM was installed, ground teams powered on the new MDM, loaded software, and configured it as a viable backup. The MDM had previously failed on April 11,2014. The EV crew also …
A bright first appeared 51 miles above the town of Dumas in northern Mississippi and proceeded slightly west of north at 40,000 mph, burning up between the Tennessee towns of Saulsbury and Middleton at an altitude of 23 miles. The time of the event was 12:46:36 AM CDT. It was about as a bright as …
By Ludovic Brucker We still wonder whether our campaign was successful, or fair. For sure, it was a mix of good and tough times. The pluses, making our campaign a good time: – We’re back from our field site, healthy and with all our fingers and toes! – We set up an almost perfect camp, […]
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #26 Preparation: In preparation for tomorrow’s planned EVA to Remove and Replace (R&R) the failed External (EXT) Multiplexer/Demultiplexer (MDM)2, the crew performed the following tasks: Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Swanson and FE-5 Mastracchio performed final tool configuration. Commander (CDR) Wakata completed a tool audit. Wakata, Swanson and Mastracchio completed Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics …
SpaceX (SpX)-3 Dragon Ingress and Cargo Transfer: Dragon hatch was opened earlier this morning. The crew began cargo operations by removing the Common Cabin Air Assembly (CCAA) Heat Exchanger (HX) from the center stack. Double cold bags were removed ahead of schedule. Dragon unpack continued throughout the day. Hybrid Training Part Eight: Commander (CDR) Wakata …
Every month we offer a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. The April 2014 puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what the image shows, what part of the world we are looking at, when the image was acquired, and why the scene is interesting. How to answer. Your answer […]
SpaceX (SpX)-3 Dragon Capture/Berth and Ingress: The crew captured Dragon at 6:14am CDT today. During the approach, there were some minor Ultra High Frequency (UHF) comm dropouts, but the channel swap-overs were well within Fault Detection Isolation and Recovery (FDIR) time constraints. Berthing to the Node 2 Nadir port was performed by the ground teams. …
SpaceX (SpX)-3 Launch: SpX-3 launched from Cape Canaveral today at 2:25pm CDT. After launch there was a delay with pressurization in part of the propulsion system. Pressurization was completed later and SpX3 is proceeding toward capture on Sunday, April 20, at 6:14am CDT. Hybrid Training Part Seven: Commander (CDR) Wakata donned the Hybrid Training hardware …
