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NASA and Northrop Grumman coordinated with the U.S. Air Force Eastern Range for an earlier launch date for the agency’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. ICON is now targeted for launch on Oct. 9, 2019, aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket carried by the company’s …

Mission Control in Houston informed the crew aboard the International Space Station that tonight’s launch of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) unpiloted H-II Transfer Vehicle-8 (HTV-8) cargo spacecraft was scrubbed due to a fire on or near the launch pad at Tanegashima Space Center. The astronauts are safe aboard the station and well supplied.   More …

H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-8 Launch Delay:  Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) scrubbed today’s HTV-8 launch attempt due to a fire at the launch pad that has since been extinguished. JAXA teams are meeting to discuss a forward plan and assess launch opportunities. Fluid Shifts: The crew performed the second day of Fluid shifts ultrasound data …

Ten years after the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched its first H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) mission, today the HTV-8 “Kounotori” cargo craft will launch from the Tanegashima Space Center to the International Space Station. While launch is scheduled for 5:33 p.m. EDT, NASA Television will start its coverage at 5 p.m.   Days after, on …

Microgravity Crystals: Over the weekend, the crew set up a microscope, then took images of the solutions and any crystals in the wells of the crystal plates as part of day six on-going experiment runs.  The Microgravity Crystals investigation crystallizes a membrane protein that is integral to tumor growth and cancer survival. Although crystallization of …

The International Space Station is abuzz as preparations heat up for the launch of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency HTV-8 “Kounotori” cargo craft from the Tanegashima Space Center tomorrow, Sept. 10. Launch is slated for 5:33 p.m. EDT, and can be seen live on NASA Television.   NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Andrew Morgan spent …

The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft bearing Russian gear and supplies is safely back on Earth after parachuting to a landing in south-central Kazakhstan at 5:32 p.m. EDT (3:32am Kazakhstan time on Saturday, Sept. 7).  Landing occurred about 87 miles southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan. Roscosmos personnel are on-site and have recovered the vehicle for postflight …

60 Soyuz (60S) Unmanned Undock and Landing: 60S undocked from the Service Module (SM) Aft port today at 1:13 PM CT and is planned to land this afternoon in Kazakhstan at ~4:35 PM CT. The flight test objectives include: Test a modernized guidance, navigation and control system as well as an entry control system. Verify …

While flying about 260 miles above the border between northeastern China and southeastern Russia, an uncrewed Russian Soyuz spacecraft undocked and departed from the International Space Station at 2:14 p.m. EDT. The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft was attached to the station’s aft-facing port of the Zvezda service module for a two-week stay as part of its …

NASA and Northrop Grumman currently are preparing the agency’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, spacecraft and the Pegasus XL rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for ferry to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida by the L-1011 Stargazer aircraft on Oct. 1, 2019. The launch has been rescheduled to Oct. 10, …