Orbital-2 (Orb-2) Launch: Launch is currently scheduled for Sunday, July 13 at 11:52 am CDT. Grapple is scheduled for Wednesday, July 16 at 5:37 am CDT followed by berthing to Node 2 (N2) Nadir. Ingress is scheudled for Thursday, July 17. Force Shoes: Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Wiseman performed Treadmill 2 (T2) exercise using the Force …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 07/10/14
Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE) Interior Corner Flow (ICF) Test: Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Gerst set up hardware on the Maintenance Work Area (MWA) and conducted ICF test using the ICF8 hardware which contains a segmented, 50 degree snow cone section. CFE ICF studies capillary flow in interior corners of vessels with various geometries. Structured inside tanks …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 07/09/14
Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS)-II Operations: FE-5 Wiseman conducted seven flame tests for the BASS-II investigation. Six of the samples were fabric and the seventh was an acrylic, spherical material. The BASS-II investigation examines the burning and extinction characteristics of a wide variety of fuel samples in microgravity. The BASS-II experiment will guide strategies …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 07/08/14
Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS)-II Operations: Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Wiseman conducted six flame tests for the BASS-II investigation. Clear and black rods were burned under the same conditions for comparison. The BASS-II investigation examines the burning and extinction characteristics of a wide variety of fuel samples in microgravity. The BASS-II experiment will guide strategies …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 07/07/14
Radi-N2 Neutron Field Study (Radi-N2): Commander (CDR) Swanson deployed eight bubble detectors around the ISS for the Radi-N2 experiment. The objective of this investigation is to better characterize the ISS neutron environment and define the risk posed to the crewmembers’ health and provide the data necessary to develop advanced protective measures for future space flight. …
June Puzzler Answer: Salar de Arizaro
Congratulations to Joe Clark for being the first to solve our June puzzler. The answer was the Salar de Arizaro in Argentina’s Salta province. Though once bathed in water, the landscape is now bone dry due to evaporation, baking sunlight, and fierce winds. Read more about it in the image of the day we published […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 07/03/14
Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS)-II Operations: Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Wiseman conducted flame tests for the BASS-II investigation which examines the burning and extinction characteristics of a wide variety of fuel samples in microgravity. The experiment will guide strategies for materials flammability screening for use in spacecraft as well as provide valuable data on solid …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 07/02/14
FLame Extinguishment Experiment (FLEX)-2 Operations: Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Wiseman removed the Combustion Integration Rack (CIR) alignment guides which isolate the rack and allow ground teams to conduct another FLEX-2 test point via ground commanding. Iso-octane was used for this test point. FLEX-2 uses small droplets of fuel to study the special burning characteristics of fire …
‘We Have a Healthy Observatory’
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 is in great condition following liftoff earlier today from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and is ready to begin a checkout process before it starts its work of measuring and mapping carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere. “We have a healthy observatory,” said Ralph Basilio, the OCO-2 project manager from NASA’s …
Another Look at Liftoff
A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying NASA’s OCO-2 spacecraft rises from the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The photo was taken by NASA photographer Bill Ingalls.