Blogs

The Expedition 57 crew aboard the International Space Station conducted human research and space physics today while maintaining life support systems. The space trio also continued U.S. and Russian cargo operations as another crew on Earth prepared for its launch early next week. Commander Alexander Gerst started his day with astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and scanned …

NASA’s InSight spacecraft is on target for Mars landing at around noon PST today. Regular updates about the entry, descent and landing will be posted here. In mere hours, NASA’s InSight spacecraft will complete its seven-month journey to Mars. It will have cruised 301,223,981 miles (484,773,006 km) at a top speed of 6,200 mph (10,000 kph). …

Food Acceptability Questionnaire: The crew performed the Food Acceptability questionnaire. Food Acceptability seeks to determine the impact of repetitive consumption of food currently available from the spaceflight food system.  The results will be used in developing strategies to improve food system composition to support crew health and performance on long duration missions. Microgravity Investigation of …

On Nov. 26, NASA’s InSight spacecraft will blaze through the Martian atmosphere and attempt to set a lander gently on the surface of the Red Planet in less time than it takes to hard-boil an egg. InSight’s entry, descent and landing (EDL) team, based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, along with another …

Loop Heat Pipe Radiator (LHPR) removal: Following a successful completion of the LHPR experiment on GMT 320, today the crew removed it from the MPEP and stowed the hardware.  The Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) was then removed from the Japanese Experiment Module Air Lock (JEMAL) slide table and troubleshooting was performed on a limit switch …

NASA’s Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft is on track for a soft touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet on Nov. 26, the Monday after Thanksgiving. But it’s not going to be a relaxing weekend of turkey leftovers, football and shopping for the InSight mission team. Engineers …

Three humans will spend Thanksgiving orbiting about 260 miles above Earth. Another three individuals are spending the holiday in Kazakhstan preparing to launch to the International Space Station on Dec. 3. The Expedition 57 trio from the U.S., Russia and Germany will share a traditional Thanksgiving meal together with fresh ingredients delivered over the weekend …

ISS 20th Anniversary:  The largest and most complex international construction project in space began in Kazakhstan 20 years ago today. Atop its Proton rocket, on November. 20, 1998, the Zarya Functional Cargo Block (FGB) lifted off its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch of the first element of the ISS kicked off an …

The International Space Station turned 20 years old today with the launch of the first element, the Zarya module, occurring on Nov. 20, 1998. The three-person Expedition 57 crew commemorated the beginning of the orbital lab’s construction during a Facebook Live event today and answered questions submitted via social media. The crew also continues to …

On Nov. 16, Parker Solar Probe reported that all systems are operating well in the first detailed performance and health update sent to Earth by the spacecraft since its first solar encounter.