Axiom-1 Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Launch: SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour successfully launched from Launch Complex-39A today at 10:17 AM CT on a Falcon 9 carrying Private Astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe for the Axiom-1 mission. Crew Dragon Endeavour is planned to dock to the ISS on Saturday, April 9th, at …
In continued preparations for the Artemis I wet dress rehearsal test, with tanking targeted for Monday, teams encountered an issue maintaining helium purge pressure on the upper stage engine after change-out of a regulator on the mobile launcher. The RL10 engine on the upper stage uses helium to purge the engine and also to activate …
Payloads: Astrobee/Integrated System for Autonomous and Adaptive Caretaking (ISAAC): Following a software update, Astrobee supported an ISAAC session in Node 2. In this session, the Astrobee robot acted as autonomously as possible with minimal intervention from the ISS crew. The ISAAC project demonstrates using autonomous robots in human exploration vehicles to track vehicle health, transfer …
NASA and Axiom Space will provide coverage of launch and select mission activities for Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff is scheduled at 11:17 a.m. EDT Friday, April 8, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Coverage begins on NASA Television, the …
The seven-member Expedition 67 crew is gearing up for a pair of spacewalks scheduled for later this month while ensuring the International Space Station orbits Earth in tip-top shape. Meanwhile, the first private astronaut mission is less than one day from launching toward the orbital lab. NASA astronaut Raja Chari is helping two cosmonauts get …
The ongoing success of the multi-instrument optics alignment for NASA’s Webb telescope’s near-infrared instruments has moved the attention of the commissioning team to chill as we carefully monitor the cooling of the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) down to its final operating temperature of less than 7 kelvins (-447 degrees Fahrenheit, or -266 degrees Celsius). We are continuing other activities during this slow cooldown …
Mission managers with NASA, Axiom, and SpaceX will participate in a Launch Readiness Review for Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) on Thursday, April 7. The first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Ax-1 is scheduled to launch no earlier than 11:17 a.m. EDT on Friday, April 8. The results of the review will be …
Payloads: Airborne Particulate Monitor (APM): Science Data from the APM memory card was transferred to a Station Support Computer (SSC) for subsequent downlink, and the display status was reported to the ground. Air quality in crewed spacecraft is important for keeping astronauts healthy and comfortable. Although requirements exist for maximum allowable concentrations of particulate matter, …
The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour sitting atop the Falcon 9 rocket has rolled out to launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Endeavour is counting down to a launch this weekend of the first private astronaut mission from Axiom Space to the International Space Station. The Axiom Space-1 (Ax-1) crew is due to …
“The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and other Webb instruments have been cooling by radiating their thermal energy into the dark of space for the bulk of the last three months. The near-infrared instruments will operate at about 34 to 39 kelvins, cooling passively. But MIRI’s detectors will need to get a lot colder still, to be …
