Earlier today, engineers and technicians at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida drove Crawler Transporter-2, which will carry NASA’s Moon rocket to the launch pad, to the doors of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Soon, the 6.6-million-pound crawler will go inside the VAB and slide under the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft placed …
Two astronauts spent the day getting their spacesuits and tools ready for a spacewalk set to begin on Tuesday at the International Space Station. The rest of the Expedition 66 crew focused on a variety of combustion and space biology research on Friday. Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari worked throughout Friday preparing for …
Payloads: Behavioral Core Measures (BCM): ROBoT-r Research sessions consisting of a set of 12 runs/tests were performed. The Standardized Behavioral Measures for Detecting Behavioral Health Risks during Exploration Missions (Behavioral Core Measures) experiment initially examined a suite of measurements to reliably assess the risk of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders during long-duration spaceflight …
This week the Webb team continued to make progress in aligning the telescope to the NIRCam instrument. Between taking the data to understand the optical components, we continue to check out the science instruments. The NIRSpec instrument includes a microshutter array of a quarter-million miniature movable windows, each 0.1 by 0.2 millimeters in size. The …
The Expedition 66 crew continued preparing today for the first of two spacewalks set to begin next week to continue upgrading the International Space Station’s power system. Vein scans were also on Thursday’s schedule helping scientists understand how living in space affects the human body. NASA Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari are set …
Payloads: Collapsible Contingency Urinal (CCU): As part of an on-going series of tests, the crew used the CCU system. The CCU is an exploration hardware flown to the ISS as a tech demo. The approach includes a fractal wetting design that incorporates smart capillary fluidics. This work could have a broad impact on capillary-based fluid …
Space exercise and space physics were the main research topics aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The Expedition 66 crew also juggled spacewalk preparations and crew departure training throughout the day. Two investigations conducted on Wednesday are exploring how to exercise effectively in microgravity and keep astronauts and cosmonauts healthy and fit in weightlessness. …
Payloads: Electromagnetic Levitator (EML): The various helium and argon gas valves were cycled to verify correct routing of gas hoses. EML is a multi-user facility that provides containerless melting and solidification of electrically conductive, spherical samples, under ultra-high vacuum and/or high purity gas environments. Heating and positioning of the sample is achieved by electromagnetic fields …
A full day of eye research and treadmill maintenance kept the Expedition 66 crew members busy on Tuesday. Two crew mates also had a light duty day aboard the International Space Station ahead of their return to Earth at the end of the month. Three astronauts worked throughout the day continuing to research how living …
By Gabrielle Antonioli, Montana State University /BOISE, IDAHO/ “Watch me,” I say to Megan as I tip my skis over the edge of snow at the top of a steep gully in the southern portion of the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. She nods knowingly from the ridge above. Not letting her eyes leave me, she …
