NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is now in Florida – its final Earth-bound destination – before embarking on a mission to study the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. A United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane from Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, flew to Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, to pick up the spacecraft. The …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 8/11/2021
Payloads Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Ellipsoids (InSPACE-4): The crew disconnected the InSPACE-4 SSD cards and USB Cables from MSG HD Video Drawer and packed the items for return. InSPACE-4 studies the assembly of tiny structures from colloids using magnetic fields. These structures change the properties of the assembled material, such as …
Cygnus on its Way to Station as Crew Keeps Up Research
The Expedition 65 crew is getting ready for the arrival of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft when it arrives Thursday morning. The International Space Station residents also continued microgravity research while preparing for an upcoming spacewalk today. NASA TV will begin its broadcast of the Cygnus space freighter’s approach and rendezvous on Thursday at 4:45 …
Crew Unpacking Cygnus and Gearing Up for U.S., Russian Spacewalks
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft is open for business and the Expedition 65 crew has begun unpacking its more than four tons of cargo. Two astronauts and two cosmonauts are also gearing up for a series of spacewalks to outfit the International Space Station. Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Thomas Pesquet started their day transferring …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 8/10/2021
Payloads: Astrobee: The crew relocated stowage items from JPM Rack Fronts in preparation for the ground to perform remote Astrobee free flyer Ops. Astrobee is made up of three free-flying, cube-shaped robots, which are designed to help scientists, and engineers develop and test technologies for use in microgravity to assist astronauts with routine chores, and …
Crew Trains for Cygnus Arrival During Spacewalk Preps and Science
The Expedition 65 crew is getting ready for a shipment of new science experiments and crew supplies due to launch toward the International Space Station today. The orbital residents are also gearing up for a spacewalk while conducting a variety of space research. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter sits atop an Antares rocket counting to …
How many Perseids will I see in 2021?
By Bill Cooke, NASA Meteoroid Environments Office Many Perseid-related news stories and social media posts state that the maximum rate is about 100 meteors per hour, which is a lot. So, folks get excited and go out on the peak night, braving mosquitos and other nightly hazards. But they are often disappointed; we routinely hear, …
NASA, Boeing Make Progress on Starliner Valve Issue
NASA and Boeing continued work over the weekend and Monday morning on the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft service module propulsion system in preparation for the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission to the International Space Station. Work progressed to restore functionality to several valves in the Starliner propulsion system that did not open as designed during the …
Astronauts Relaxing Day Before Cygnus Cargo Ship Lifts Off to Station
Northrop Grumman is “go” to launch its Cygnus space freighter atop an Antares rocket on Tuesday at 5:56 p.m. EDT. It will arrive at the International Space Station on Thursday for a capture at 6:10 a.m. with NASA Flight Engineer Megan McArthur at the controls of the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Cygnus will lift off from …
NASA, Boeing Continue to Work Toward Understanding Starliner Service Module Valve Performance Issue
NASA continues to work side-by-side with Boeing to understanding the CST-100 Starliner’s service module valve performance, including the unexpected indications some of the valves were in the closed position during its Aug. 3 launch attempt of Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2). With troubleshooting ongoing in the United Launch Alliance Vertical Integration Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space …