Blogs

Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Axiom-1: Public Affairs Office (PAO), Payload, and Commercial Activities: The Ax-1 crew completed activities associated with several ISS National Lab sponsored payloads including Cardioprotection, Nano ISS Antenna, TESSERAE, CRISPR, Earth Observation, and Sansori. Private Astronauts Larry Connor and Eytan Stibbe performed four ESA-sponsored PAO ICE Cubes media events. Mike LA and …

The Expedition 67 crew is heading into a busy period next week that begins with a Russian spacewalk, followed by the departure of four private astronauts and the launch of the SpaceX Crew-4 mission. Meanwhile, the residents aboard the International Space Station continued a broad array of research to understand what happens to the human …

NASA and SpaceX managers have gathered at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to start the Crew-4 mission’s Flight Readiness Review (FRR). Over the next several hours, the FRR will focus on the preparedness of SpaceX’s crew transportation system, the International Space Station, and its international partners to support the flight, and the certification …

Teams concluded today’s wet dress rehearsal test at approximately 5:10 p.m. EDT after observing a liquid hydrogen (LH2) leak on the tail service mast umbilical, which is located at the base of the mobile launcher and connects to the rocket’s core stage. The leak was discovered during liquid hydrogen loading operations and prevented the team …

While loading liquid hydrogen (LH2) on the rocket’s core stage earlier this afternoon, engineers detected a leak on the tail service mast , which is located at the base of the mobile launcher and connects to the core stage. Though engineers stopped loading LH2 and liquid oxygen (LOX) on the core stage, the launch director …

Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Axiom-1: Public Affairs Office (PAO), Payload, and Commercial Activities: Multiple NASA-sponsored and ESA-sponsored PAO events have been performed, including eight Ice Cube Media Set events, three Ham radio events, and three PAO events, including a duet in space between Mike LA and the neoclassical pianist BLKBOK. The Ax-1 crew completed activities …

NASA and SpaceX are preparing for a Commercial Crew swap taking place this month at the International Space Station. Meanwhile, the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) astronauts are staying busy as two cosmonauts gear up for a pair of spacewalks outside the orbiting lab’s Russian segment. Two Commercial Crew missions are getting ready to trade places …

Following the completion of slow fill for liquid hydrogen (LH2), teams encountered an issue when they started fast fill operations for LH2. After fast fill on LH2 began, a surge in pressure automatically stopped the flow of liquid hydrogen. Teams are working to troubleshoot this issue and the rocket is in a safe configuration. In …

After troubleshooting an issue with the temperature of liquid oxygen during early stages of propellant loading into the rocket’s core stage, launch controllers have resumed operations. Teams performed chill down operations again before liquid oxygen began flowing into the tank and adjusted pump speeds as necessary during flow to help ensure temperatures remain below limits. …

The journey of commissioning the Webb telescope continues this week with the successful cooling of the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), through the critical ‘pinch point,’ down to its final operating temperature of less than 7 kelvins (-447 degrees Fahrenheit, or -266 degrees Celsius). This was a precondition to completing the seventh and final stage of the …