Blogs

Payloads ISAAC (Integrated System for Autonomous and Adaptive Caretaking): The crew performed the Astrobee free flyer setup and installed the RFID Recon Reader onto the flyer and performed checkout steps to verify the ISAAC software. The ISAAC project demonstrates using autonomous robots in human exploration vehicles to track vehicle health, transfer and unpack cargo, and …

NASA’s Artemis I Orion spacecraft is being outfitted with additional artwork as technicians began installing the logo for ESA (European Space Agency). ESA provided the European-built service module, which provides power and propulsion for the Orion spacecraft, and will also provide water and air for astronauts on future missions. Artemis I extends NASA and ESA’s …

Payloads SABL (Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory): The crew removed the CO2 Incubator Controller from the SABL-1 unit. SABL supports a wide variety of investigations in the life, physical and material sciences with a focus on supporting research of biological systems and processes. It has over 23 liters of temperature-controlled volume with LED lighting for scientific …

NASA’s is reviewing the performance of a valve on the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket before proceeding with a second hot fire test at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. During checkout preparations over the weekend, engineers determined that one of eight valves (a type of valve called …

The Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft was berthed to the International Space Station’s Earth-facing port of the Unity module at 7:16 a.m. EST Monday morning and subsequently bolted into place. Cygnus will remain at the space station until May, when the spacecraft will depart the station. Following departure, the Cygnus will dispose of several tons of trash …

At 4:38 a.m. EST, Expedition 64 Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency used the International Space Station’s robotic Canadarm2 to grapple the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft as Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins of NASA monitored Cygnus systems during its approach. Next, ground controllers will command the station’s arm to rotate and install Cygnus, dubbed the S.S. Katherine Johnson, …

A Northrop Grumman cargo spacecraft carrying almost 8,000 pounds of science and research investigations, supplies, and hardware is set to arrive to the International Space Station today at 4:40 a.m. EST. The uncrewed Cygnus spacecraft launched at 12:36 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20, on an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The company’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft …

The solar arrays have successfully deployed on Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft that is on its way to deliver approximately 8,000 pounds of scientific investigations, cargo, and supplies to the International Space Station after launching at 12:36 p.m. EST Saturday from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia. Coverage of the spacecraft’s approach and arrival to the orbiting laboratory will begin Monday, …

Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus cargo spacecraft lifted off at 12:36 p.m. EST from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia and is on its way to the International Space Station with approximately 8,000 pounds of research, crew supplies, and hardware. Commands will be given at about 3:20 p.m. EST to deploy the spacecraft’s solar arrays, which …

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe speeds past Venus on Feb. 20, 2021, using the planet’s gravity to shape its path for its next close approaches to the Sun.