Do you want to see some sky watching highlights in February 2021? Find Mars all month after sunset, especially on the night of Feb. 18 for NASA’s planned rover landing. Then, watch the Moon glide across the Winter Circle before it pays a visit to the bright stars of the constellation Gemini. Check out the …
Crew Gets Ready for Cargo Missions, Opens New Airlock
Two cargo rockets on opposite sides of the world are nearing their launch to resupply the Expedition 64 crew this month. A new science and cargo airlock installed late last year on the International Space Station is now open for business. Russia’s Progress 76 (76P) cargo craft, packed with trash and discarded hardware, will depart …
Artemis I Boosters Take Shape
Booster stacking continues! The second to last set of segments for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters were placed on the mobile launcher inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Engineers with Exploration Ground Systems and Jacobs transported the segments from the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility, where they have …
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ACTIVATE Begins Year Two of Marine Cloud Study
By Joe Atkinson / NASA’S LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER, HAMPTON, VIRGINIA/ A NASA airborne study has returned to the field for a second year of science flights to advance the accuracy of short- and long-term climate models. The Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) began the third of six planned flight campaigns …
Crew Looks to U.S. Space Record and Super Bowl Flyover
Most of the Expedition 64 crew started a three-day weekend today following a busy start to 2021 that saw two U.S. cargo ship departures and two spacewalks. Four of the orbital residents aboard the International Space Station will break a U.S. space record from the ’70s on Sunday, and Super Bowl fans in Tampa may be …
Robotics, Emergency Training and Cargo Mission Preps on Station
Free-flying robotics and fluid physics dominated the research schedule aboard the International Space Station today. The Expedition 64 crew also trained for an emergency while also preparing for upcoming U.S. and Russian cargo missions. The Astrobee experimental robotic assistants were flying around inside the Japanese Kibo laboratory module on Thursday. The cube-shaped, toaster-sized robots are …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 2/04/2021
Payloads FLARE (Solid Combustion Assembly): The crew removed and replaced the FLARE-Solid Combustion Experiment Module (SCEM) Igniter for Experiment Insert #2. Fundamental Research on International Standard of Fire Safety in Space – Base for Safety of Future Manned Missions (FLARE), a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) investigation, explores the flammability of materials in microgravity. Various …
NASA’s TWINS Data Reveals Heated Particle Highway to Earth
By Mara Johnson-Groh NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Up in the night sky, above the auroras and below the Moon, there exists a heated superhighway. Instead of cars though, this transient highway funnels charged particles across hundreds of thousands of miles toward Earth for a few minutes before vanishing. While we can’t see it with …
Science Gear Work and Spacesuit Cleaning Follow Harvest
The Expedition 64 crew turned its attention to science hardware today following Tuesday’s harvest aboard the International Space Station. The orbital residents also cleaned up following two spacewalks to upgrade communications and power systems. NASA Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins prepared the NanoRacks Bishop airlock on Wednesday for its upcoming pressurization. The experienced astronaut then finished …