NASA astronauts Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada are now scheduled to begin a spacewalk at 8:30 a.m. EST Thursday to augment the International Space Station’s power generation system. Wednesday’s spacewalk was postponed for 24 hours so that the orbiting lab’s ISS Progress 81 cargo craft could fire its engines at 8:42 a.m. to maneuver the …
The International Space Station conducted a Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) today, Dec. 21, at 8:42 a.m. EST. The decision to conduct the maneuver was based on tracking data that showed a close approach to station of a fragment of Russian Fregat-SB upper stage debris. During the manuever, the Roscosmos Progress 81 thrusters fired for …
While flight control teams were preparing for today’s U.S. spacewalk, updated tracking data on a fragment of Russian Fregat-SB upper stage debris showed a close approach to station. Based on this new data, flight control teams directed the crew to stop spacewalk preparations as the ground team stepped into procedures to perform a Pre-Determined Debris …
Payloads: Veg-05: The crew checked on the plant pillows, added water as necessary, and performed a wick opening on the plant pillows. The wick opening allows the seeds to be assessed for germination and gives them more room to grow during the 100+ day growth cycle. The Veg-05 investigation is the next step in efforts …
Two Expedition 68 astronauts are preparing to exit the International Space Station on Wednesday and augment the orbiting lab’s power generation system. The duo from NASA, Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada, will spend about seven hours installing the station’s fourth roll-out solar array on the Port-4 (P4) truss structure. Rubio and Cassada spent Tuesday gathering …
Life science and cargo operations kicked off the week for the Expedition 68 crew aboard the International Space Station. Two astronauts are also planning to exit the orbiting lab on Wednesday for a seven-hour spacewalk. NASA Flight Engineers Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann took turns with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata …
Payloads: Materials Science Research Rack/Materials Science Laboratory (MSRR/MSL): The crew gained access to the MSL furnace area, removed the Growth of Ternary Compound Semiconductors (GTCS) Sample Cartridge Assembly (SCA) and installed the Fabrication of Amorphous Metals in Space (FAMIS) C2 SCA. FAMIS studies the microstructure of composites of Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG) and tungsten spheres …
NASA and Roscosmos continue to evaluate an external leak that occurred Dec. 14, from the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module of the International Space Station. Roscosmos has identified the source of the leak as the external cooling loop of the Soyuz. As part of the ongoing evaluation and investigation, Roscosmos flight controllers conducted a …
Significant Events: Soyuz Thruster Test: This morning, the Russian crew completed a test of the 68S Soyuz thrusters. Performance was nominal and no issues were observed. Russian and NASA teams continue to work together to assess the vehicle. Payloads: ISS Ham Radio: A crewmember initiated ISS Ham contact with Maitland Air Cadet Association, Goderich, ON, …
Significant Items: Soyuz Coolant Leak: During preparation for RS EVA 56, coolant was seen leaking via external cameras from the external thermal control loop on the Soyuz 68S Instrumentation Module. MCC-M made a decision to cancel RS EVA 56 before crew opened the EV hatch. A commission has been formed to investigate this anomaly. Payloads: …
