Mission managers have established command communications with all four of NASA’s Starling CubeSats! The spacecraft are progressing through payload and propulsion tests, the final stage of a pre-operations checklist called commissioning. The Starling spacecraft – which project team members nicknamed Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde – are part of an ambitious test to develop self-coordinating …
Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin began a spacewalk at 10:44 a.m. EDT to attach three debris shields to the Rassvet module outside the International Space Station and to test the sturdiness of a work platform that will be affixed to the end of the European robotic arm attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory …
NASA coverage is underway for today’s spacewalk with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin. The duo will exit out of the International Space Station’s Poisk module about 10:45 a.m. EDT to attach three debris shields to the Rassvet module. They also will test the sturdiness of a work platform that will be affixed to the …
Payloads: Plant Habitat-03B: The crew gained access to the Plant Habitat facility, obtained several groups of leaf samples, and prepared them for return to the ground. The Arabidopsis thaliana plants began growing in mid-July and will continue to develop throughout the 91-day growth cycle. Plants exposed to environmental stress, including spaceflight, undergo epigenetic changes that …
Stem cells and space botany were the top research objectives for the Expedition 69 crew on Tuesday while still working to unpack a new U.S. cargo craft. Two cosmonauts are also “go” to exit the International Space Station on Wednesday for more upgrades on the orbital lab. Life science in microgravity enables researchers to observe …
NASA and Boeing teams continue to make progress in preparing for Starliner’s first crewed flight to and from the International Space Station. In a media teleconference Aug. 8, leaders from NASA and Boeing discussed the path forward for the spacecraft, including work to address two technical issues identified during the agency’s certification process to ensure …
Payloads: Cold Atom Lab (CAL): CAL science module 3B was installed at its temporary location and powered to maintain the health of the unit. Installation of this science module into CAL is planned for later this year. CAL produces clouds of atoms that are chilled to about one ten billionth of a degree above absolute …
The NASA All Sky Fireball Network is already detecting the first meteors of this year’s Perseid meteor shower! The meteor shower peaks on the night of August 12 as the Earth passes through the dustiest debris of comet Swift-Tuttle’s trails. The Perseid meteor shower is often considered to be the best meteor shower of the …
A U.S. cargo craft is open for business at the International Space Station and two cosmonauts are gearing up for a spacewalk on Wednesday. The Expedition 69 crew also kicked off the work week exploring high temperature physics and ways to make semiconductor crystals. NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio worked throughout Monday unpacking some of …
Cygnus NG-19 Arrival: At 4:54 AM CT this morning, the crew successfully captured Cygnus NG-19 using the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS). Cygnus was installed at the Node 1 Nadir port, and bolt loading was completed at 8:14 AM CT. The crew then performed leak checks and vestibule outfitting prior to ingress. After photographing …