53 Progress Docking: 53P was manually docked to the Service Module aft port at 4:30 pm CST. The Progress vehicle launched Monday, November 25 carrying more than 1400 kg of cargo including a spare Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Fluids Control Pump Assembly (FCPA). Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) Video Compression And Recording Unit (VCRU) Software …
Satellite in the House: GPM Arrives at Tanegashima Space Center
Finally! Michael Starobin and I had barely settled into the Global Precipitation Measurement mission offices at the Spacecraft Test and Assembly building at Tanegashima Space Center on Tuesday, Nov. 26, when we were grabbing cameras and bags and running out the door again. The barge carrying GPM was coming in and we had to get […]
IceBridge Antarctic 2013: A Year and a Half in the Making
For just a brief moment, I find myself finally able to pause and reflect on just how far we, Operation IceBridge, have come as a team and a project. It was roughly one-and-a-half years ago when we were first tasked by NASA Headquarters to bring the P-3, a four-engine turboprop aircraft, to McMurdo Station for […]
Kyushu Crossing
We landed in Kitakyushu, Japan, on Sunday, Nov. 24, and as soon as Global Precipitation Measurement satellite’s shipping container was loaded onto the barge that would take it to Tanegashima Island, those of us who flew on the C-5 and the unloading team that met us at the airport had to travel a different, more […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 11/27/13
53P KURS-NA Checkout: 53P performed a rendezvous demo/flyby today. This demonstration was used to check out the new KURS-NA System. During today’s flyby, the closest point of approach was 1.6 km. The KURS-NA System is in development for next-generation Soyuz-MS/Progress-MS to replace the KURS-A antennas since many of the components are no longer produced. Preliminary …
Getting to Kitakyushu Airport
Getting up before the sun on a November morning in Alaska may not be an honest way to represent a person’s effort. The sun doesn’t make much of an appearance at this latitude. The Global Precipitation Measurement mission team traveling to Japan takes that as a charge: we’re not planning to hang around too long, […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 11/26/13
4K Camera Checkout: Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Wakata continued the checkout of JAXA’s 4K camera in the Cupola with remote settings for the camera and automatic shooting. During the checkout Wakata adjusted the angle of view and verified video recording had been performed successfully. However, JAXA teams encountered problems with downlinking the video. Troubleshooting steps are …
The Alaskan Detour
Thursday, November 21 When they told us to dress in layers for the flight, they weren’t kidding. At altitude, the C-5 transporting the Global Precipitation Measurement satellite is cold. After waking up from my exhausted sleep that passed the first five hours, my feet were blocks of ice from the draft along the floor. I […]
GPM Takes its First (Air) Flight
At 4:30 a.m., Nov. 21, a knock came at the door of the Goddard bus from one of our Air Force escorts at Andrews Air Force Base, outside of Washington, D.C. It was time to board the Super Galaxy C5 cargo plane. The NASA team of 24 slowly woke up from the naps most of […]
Keeping in Touch: Communication in the Field
One of the keys to IceBridge’s success is effective communication between every member of the team. But keeping in touch in the remote locales IceBridge operates from can sometimes be tricky. On plane there’s the intercom system routing through headsets and the radios and Iridium satellite communication devices aboard the P-3 allow the plane to […]