Blogs

Biological Rhythms 48 Hour Experiment: As part of the continuing JAXA Biological Rhythms 48 hour experiment, Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Parmitano terminated the first 24-hour measurement, exchanged the Multi Media Card and battery, and then started the latter 24 hour measurement. Data for this portion of the experiment is being taken from the Digital Walk Holter …

Here’s what MAVEN looked like just before engineers and technicians fit the two-piece payload fairing around it. The spacecraft’s solar arrays and instruments have been folded up. The fairing with MAVEN inside will be bolted to the top of an Atlas V rocket for launch at 1:28 p.m. EST on Nov. 18 from Cape Canaveral …

Each of MAVEN’s solar array “wings” has a magnetometer on its tip to take readings of Martian magnetic field as the spacecraft orbits the Red Planet. The data is seen as crucial to evaluate the interaction between the solar wind from the sun and the thin atmosphere of Mars.

Biological Rhythms 48 Hour Experiment:  Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Parmitano configured and donned an Actiwatch, attached electrodes to his chest, and will wear the Digital Walk Holter Electrocardiogram (ECG) for JAXA’s 48 hour Biological Rhythms experiment. This study examines the circadian variation of astronaut’s cardiac autonomic function during space flight. The research is expected to provide …

The launch team for MAVEN will have two hours to begin the flight on launch day. The window opens Nov. 18 at 1:28 p.m. EST and closes at 3:28 p.m. EST. The launch window is dictated by a number of factors, primarily the alignment of Earth and MAVEN’s destination, Mars. The spacecraft will fly into …

  Congratulations to Jaimen W. for solving the October Puzzler the fastest.  The answer is Chile’s Lluta River. See the Image of the Day that we published on November 1, 2013, for details about the area. Phil Echelman was right on Jaimen’s heels, responding with the correct answer just two minutes after Jaimen. Congratulations also […]

35S Soyuz Relocation: Soyuz 35S and its crew consisting of Commander (CDR) Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Parmitano, and FE-6 Nyberg undocked from the ISS Mini-Research Module (MRM)-1 at 3:33 am CDT and docked to the Service Module (SM) Aft port at 3:54 am CDT. Prior to undocking, the crew performed leak checks on the vestibule …

Wonder what MAVEN would’ve seen on Mars if it had been in orbit there over Halloween? Read this for the answer.

In early September, I drove down to Wallops Flight Facility to set up our GPS base station in preparation for the test flight. The test flight is to verify that everything is working as expected, and to do some calibration, since the C-130 is a new platform for the Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor (LVIS). LVIS […]

Microbiome Investigation: Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Nyberg performed her return minus 14 (R-14) day session of the Microbiome investigation. This included taking surface samples in the ISS, performing body sample collections, inserting samples into cold stowage and answering survey questions.  The Microbiome experiment investigates the impact of space travel on both the human immune system and …