Blogs

The six-member Expedition 56 crew was busy Tuesday juggling science hardware maintenance and a variety of research work. The orbital residents are also helping students contribute to space research and testing an ancient navigation technique. A cancer study wrapped up last week and astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor stowed the life science gear today used during operations …

As astronauts prepare for trips to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, their last steps before boarding an Orion spacecraft will be across the Crew Access Arm (CAA) on the mobile launcher. Earlier this year, the CAA was added to the mobile launcher being prepared to support NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the …

Two Expedition 56 cosmonauts are getting ready for a spacewalk set for next week as the rest of the International Space Station crew took the day off. A Russian cargo craft is also poised to take out the trash and depart the orbital lab at the end of the month. Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergey …

SpaceX-15 Dragon Unberth and Release: Early this morning, the crew removed power connections, utility jumpers and completed closeout of the Dragon vehicle prior to depressurization of the Node 2 (N2) Nadir vestibule. Robotics ground controllers used the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to unberth Dragon at 9:37 AM CDT and the crew released the …

Robotic flight controllers released the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station’s robotic arm at 12:38 p.m. EDT, and Expedition 56 Serena Auñon-Chancellor of NASA is monitoring its departure. Dragon’s thrusters will be fired to move the spacecraft a safe distance from the station before SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, command its deorbit …

Chemical Gardens: Today the crew removed the Chemical Gardens 2 ampoule kit from a Cargo Transfer Bag, broke the seal between the ampoules and mixed the contents of both. In the Chemical Gardens experiment, selected metal salts are added to an aqueous solution of sodium silicate (Na2SiO3), resulting in the formation of inorganic structures that …

The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft is packed with science and hardware ready for return to Earth on Friday. NASA is also introducing a team of astronauts who will soon fly Boeing and SpaceX vehicles to the International Space Station. The Expedition 56 crew has finished loading Dragon with sensitive research results and station gear for …

NASA and its mission partners have analyzed and approved an extended launch window for Parker Solar Probe until Aug. 23, 2018 (previously Aug. 19). The spacecraft is scheduled to launch no earlier than Aug. 11, 2018, at 3:48 a.m. with a window of 45 minutes.

The International Space Station Partners and mission managers polled “go” for tomorrow’s release of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft for its deorbit and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean to wrap up the CRS-15 mission. With favorable weather conditions forecast in the splashdown zone, Dragon’s hatch will be closed early Friday around 3 a.m. Central time. …

Fluid Shifts: A 55S crewmember performed their Fluid Shifts Dilution Measurements activities today.  They collected saliva, blood and urine at multiple points during the day and inserted them into a Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI).  Fluid Shifts is a joint NASA-Russian experiment divided into Dilution Measurements, Baseline Imaging, and Baseline Imaging …