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 …
On Dec. 18, 2022, NASA’s InSight did not respond to communications from Earth. The lander’s power has been declining for months, as expected, and it’s assumed InSight may have reached its end of operations. It’s unknown what prompted the change in its energy; the last time the mission contacted the spacecraft was on Dec. 15, …
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, …
SWOT has successfully made contact with ground stations here on Earth and is providing teams with early data on the spacecraft’s health. A collaboration between NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency, SWOT will provide high-resolution measurements …
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft has separated from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage, beginning the first mission dedicated to surveying nearly all water on Earth’s surface. Teams expect to receive a signal from SWOT in the next 30 minutes – stay with us here on the blog as we’ll confirm when …
The Falcon 9’s second stage engine restarted for a short, six-second burn, and we have another successful second engine cutoff. Coming up next, in just under 10 minutes, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite will separate from the rocket.
