The Expedition 67 crew is gearing up for the departure of the first private astronaut mission and another spacewalk at the International Space Station. There was still time onboard the orbiting lab on Friday for biomedical science to understand how the human body adapts to microgravity. NASA’s station Commander Tom Marshburn spent some time on …
Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are preparing the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft for their return to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) early next week. As work continues at the launch pad throughout the weekend, we will also continue working closely with our commercial crew partners to confirm a …
Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Axiom-1 (Ax-1):Ax-1 Final Activities and Undock Preparations: The Ax-1 crew performed cargo packing, TheraBand exercise, final payload operations, and imagery activities on their last full planned day on ISS. Undock is targeted for Saturday, April 23rd at 17:30 CT (22:30 GMT). Payloads: AstroRad Vest: A crewmember donned the AstroRad Vest to …
NASA has selected eight small research satellites from seven states to fly as either auxiliary payloads or deployments from the International Space Station (ISS). These missions are currently planned to launch in the 2023-2026 timeframe. The selected CubeSats were proposed by educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, and NASA centers in response to NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) call for proposals issued …
Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Axiom-1 (Ax-1): Commercial, Payload, and Imagery Activities: The Ax-1 crew continued payload operations including Earth Observation, Fluidic Space Optics, and ILAN-ES. The crew continued to capture still and video imagery of approved commercial and outreach activities. TheraBand Activity and Private Family Conference (PFC): The Ax-1 crew performed scheduled TheraBand exercises and …
On April 18, NASA decided to move forward with plans to complete the deployment of the Lucy spacecraft’s stalled, unlatched solar array. The spacecraft is powered by two large arrays of solar cells that were designed to unfold and latch into place after launch. One of the fan-like arrays opened as planned, but the other …
The four private astronauts from Axiom Space are now due to depart the International Space Station on Saturday night and return to Earth the next day. Four commercial crew astronauts are also looking ahead to their mission aboard the orbiting lab set to begin after the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) crew departs. NASA, SpaceX and …
The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is now cooled by a gaseous helium cryocooler to under 7 kelvins. With the cooler in its final state, the Webb team is operating the MIRI instrument this week as part of seventh and final stage of the telescope alignment. When the instrument is operating, …
The Sun emitted a moderate solar flare on April 20, 2022, peaking at 9:59 p.m. ET. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to …
The integrated NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX teams have agreed on a plan for the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) crew to undock from the International Space Station at 8:35 p.m. EDT Saturday, April 23, for a splashdown off the coast of Florida about 1:46 p.m. Sunday, April 24. The decision was made based on the best weather …
