United States On-orbit Segment (USOS) Crew Day Off / SpaceX Unberth Delay: Today was a USOS Crew day off, resulting from a delay to unberth SpaceX-4 Dragon. Due to forecasts of high seas at the time of splashdown, SpaceX-4 unberth and landing has been delayed until this coming Saturday, October 25th. Dragon loading and hatch …
October Puzzler
Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The October 2014 puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what part of the world we are looking at, when the image was acquired, what the image shows, and why the scene is interesting. How to answer. Your answer can be […]
Third Flight over Hurricane Gonzalo Completed
On Friday morning, at 7:40 AM EDT, our WB-57 took off for a third, and final flight over Hurricane Gonzalo. At the time of our flight, Gonzalo was a Category 3 storm located south of Bermuda. While we were flying Gonzalo, one of the NOAA P-3s was also investigating Gonzalo. The data the P-3 collected will be particularly […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/17/14
Commercial Protein Crystal Growth High Density Modified (CPCG-HM): Gerst reviewed CPCG-HM experiment overview reference file and procedures. He then deactivated samples, powered down, and placed CPCG-HM inside a Merlin+4 deg C unit for return on Dragon/SpaceX (SpX)-4. CPCG-HM is a National Laboratory Office experiment that is intended to demonstrate the scientific and commercial value of …
Hurricane Gonzalo: The Hunt for Data Continues
Today was another interesting day here at MacDill. Our WB-57 took off around 11:16 EDT for Hurricane Gonzalo. During the science flight, Gonzalo’s maximum sustained winds were 145 mph as it continued on its track towards Bermuda. During the ~6 hour mission we were able to cross over the eye three times. Based on satellite imagery, it […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/16/14
NanoRacks Module 9: Wilmore performed session 4 of 5 Nanoracks Module 9. He retrieved the module and activated/deactivated/shook the designated mixture tubes to facilitate NanoRacks Module-9 experiments. Module-9 is a collection of student research projects utilizing the NanoRacks Mixsticks. The NanoRacks-National Center for Earth and Space Science Education investigation results from a commercial Science Technology, …
Science Flights over Hurricane Gonzalo Begin
HS3 UAV flights officially ended a couple of weeks ago, but there has been a successful extension of the HS3 mission through a new NASA/Navy collaboration. Two instruments from HS3 that didn’t get to fly this hurricane season due to aircraft issues, HIRad and HIWRAP, are now loaded onto a manned WB-57 and will be […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/15/14
Extravehicular Activity (EVA) 28: Wiseman and Wilmore completed EVA 28 today. Hatch opening was on time at 7:15am CDT and the EVA was completed with a planned Phased Elapsed Time (PET) of 6 hours and 35 minutes. All primary objectives were successfully completed as follows: Sequential Shunt Unit (SSU) 3A Remove and Replace (R&R) Articulating …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/14/14
Zebrafish Muscle: On Saturday Gerst performed a water exchange of Aquatic Habitat aquarium water and a water quality measurement. Today he performed water maintenance, another water quality measurement and installed a cable to allow for troubleshooting of the Image Processing Unit (IPU). This experiment asks if the atrophy of muscles under the condition of microgravity …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 10/10/14
Zebrafish Muscle: Gerst performed the water quality measurement of aquarium water. This experiment asks if the atrophy of muscles under the condition of microgravity also occurs in zebrafish and why their atrophy occurs in the microgravity. Space Headaches: Gerst and Wiseman completed space headaches questionnaires. The objectives of this study are to obtain in-flight data …