Blogs

Japan’s seventh resupply ship to the International Space Station is packed and readied for departure Wednesday morning. However, the Japanese cargo ship, H-II Transfer Vehicle-7 (HTV-7), has one more delivery mission before it burns up safely over the Pacific Ocean. Station skipper Alexander Gerst of ESA (European Space Agency) will command the Canadarm2 robotic arm …

NASA and Northrop Grumman will hold a Launch Readiness Review at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9 a.m. EST Tuesday, Nov. 6, to ensure preparations are on track for launch of NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) satellite. ICON is scheduled to launch Wednesday, Nov. 7, by Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket, which …

Plant Habitat: Today, the crew wrapped plant samples into foil packs and placed them into Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI)-3 and the Plant Habitat facility was cleaned. Plant Habitat is a fully automated facility conducting plant bioscience research on the ISS. The space environment is stressful for all living organisms. Understanding how plants …

A pair of Expedition 57 astronauts trained for the release of a Japanese resupply ship Wednesday after a 41-day mission at the International Space Station. Japan’s seventh cargo ship, H-II Transfer Vehicle-7 (HTV-7), has one more mission though after it departs the orbital lab. If all goes as planned, astronaut Alexander Gerst of ESA (European …

by Kate Ramsayer / 20,000 FEET ABOVE THE SOUTH POLE / This was my first flight over Antarctica, and the vast expanse of ice – just white on the ground and blue in the sky as far as the eye can see – took my breath away. As Operation IceBridge flew directly over the South …

Advanced Colloids Experiment-Temperature-7 (ACE-T7) Sample Configuration:  The crew configured LMM (Light Microscopy Module) for the ACE-T-7 science run.  The ACE-T-7 module was processed prior to this increment, and this run will allow investigators to observe the structures following longer-term evolution.  The experiment involves the design and assembly of complex three-dimensional structures from small particles suspended …

NASA and Northrop Grumman will hold a Launch Readiness Review early next week at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to ensure preparations are continuing on track for the launch of the agency’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, satellite. ICON will be launched by Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket which will be carried aloft by …

Combustion Integration Rack (CIR) Burst Disc Removal: The crew removed the burst discs from the argon and checked gas manifolds in the CIR Gas Chromatography (GC) system.  These burst discs are considered redundant with the pressure relief valves in the system and issues with the helium burst disc have occurred in the past.  Following this …

NASA is working closely with its International Space Station partner Roscosmos to move forward on crew launch plans. Roscosmos plans to launch the Progress 71 resupply mission on Nov. 16, and is targeting the launch of the Expedition 58 crew including NASA astronaut Anne McClain for Dec. 3, pending the outcome of the flight readiness …

Combustion Integration Rack (CIR) Manifold Bottle Replacement: In support of part 2 of the CIR / Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) / Electric-Field Effects on Laminar Diffusion (E-FIELD) Flames operations, the crew removed the 30% ethylene, 70% nitrogen fuel bottle and replaced it with a 100% methane fuel bottle today.  For E-Field Flames, an …