New Status: ISS as Testbed for Analog Research (ISTAR) Treadmill 2 (T2) 6-Month Maintenance: Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Cassidy successfully completed a regular maintenance on the T2. He cleaned closeout panels; inspected the treadmill motor carriage bolts, drive belt, treadmill mounting screws, tread belt slats and screws, damaged rack composite, and snubber cup liner; and vacuumed inside …
Mammatus Clouds over Oklahoma
Earth Observatory reader Warren Bonesteel sent us this shot of mammatus clouds over Duncan, Oklahoma, on May 20, 2013. They were taken at about 7:00 p.m. CST, a few minutes after a large supercell storm passed. The same storm system spawned a violent tornado that devastated the nearby city of Moore. While most clouds form […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 05/24/13
New Status: Seedling Growth Experiment: Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Cassidy removed the Experiment Container (EC) and inserted it into the Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) which completed the 4th and final run of this experiment. Seedling Growth studies the effects of microgravity on the growth of plants and is being performed on board the …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 05/23/13
New Status: Russian Treadmill (БД-2) Checkout: Flight Engineer (FE)-2 Misurkin performed checkout of the new Russian treadmill. The crew was able to run on the БД-2 and downlinked photos and a video of the session to ground specialists for evaluation. The crew is scheduled to start nominal exercise sessions on Friday. Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, …
GOES-13 is Down
On May 22, 2013, GOES-East, a key weather satellite that observes the eastern part of the United States stopped working normally. After initial efforts to revive the satellite failed, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) engineers have put the satellite in storage mode for troubleshooting. Losing one of the two geostationary weather satellites that National […]
Tiny Things Matter
When I heard that student volunteers were needed for IFloodS, I knew I wanted to take part. I had had little experience with fieldwork in the past. Most of my graduate work has been spent in front of a computer, conducting data analysis and performing hydrological modeling. I had difficulty visualizing the information I was […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 05/22/13
New Status: Russian Treadmill (БД-2) Outfitting: ISS Commander (CDR) Vinogradov and Flight Engineer (FE)-2 Misurkin completed the installation of the БД-2. Ground specialists will evalaute pictures and a video that the crew downlinked earlier today. The crew is scheduled to perform a БД-2 checkout tomorrow. Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE) Vane Gap-1 (VG-1): FE-3 Cassidy used a CFE-2 …
May Puzzler
Each month, Earth Observatory offers up a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. The sixteenth 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, and why the scene is interesting. For instance, what do you […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 05/21/13
New Status: Fundoscope Activation, Checkout and Eye Exam: Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Cassidy checked out the new Fundoscope hardware used in the Prospective Observational Study of Ocular Health. Following this activity, he performed an eye exam using the fundoscope with assistance of a physician on the ground. Ocular Health’s protocol gathers physiological data to characterize the …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 05/20/13
New Status: Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA) Hardware Replacement: On May 16, Combustion Integration Rack (CIR) experienced a failed igniter in the combustion chamber. Further test points could not be accomplished until it was replaced. Today, FE-3 Cassidy reviewed procedures, gathered hardware, accessed the CIR Combustion Chamber and removed the MDCA Chamber Insert Assembly (CIA) from the …