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 …
Teams are preparing for the next attempt of the Artemis I wet dress rehearsal, pending range availability and restoration of propellants and gases during the test. Through the past two test runs April 3 and 4, engineers accomplished several test objectives that will prepare the teams and integrated systems for launch: Configuring Launch Pad 39B …
Payloads: AstroRad Vest: A crewmember donned the AstroRad vest, wore it for approximately 90 minutes, then doffed it and completed a survey on the device. The AstroRad vest is a personal protective equipment (PPE) device which functions as a radiation shield for astronauts. AstroRad shields astronauts from space-borne ionizing radiation in an efficient way, provides …
NASA’s citizen science projects are collaborations between scientists and interested members of the public. Through these collaborations, volunteers known as citizen scientists have helped make thousands of important scientific discoveries. Aurorasaurus is one such project that tracks auroras around the world in real time via reports on its website and on Twitter. Aurorasaurus often partners …
Human research and space physics comprised the majority of the science schedule aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday. The Expedition 67 crew members also worked on U.S. and Russian cargo ships while preparing for two spacewalks. Vein and artery scans topped the day for Commander Tom Marshburn of NASA as he attached sensors to …
