Blogs

The fully-staffed Expedition 55 crew worked throughout the International Space Station today exploring how microgravity affects a variety of phenomena including biology and physics. The six long-term space residents also practiced a simulated emergency today to maintain their safety skills and awareness. Flight Engineer Drew Feustel started Tuesday collecting a urine sample and stowing it …

Plant Gravity Perception (PGP): The crew began the final Plant Gravity Perception experiment run on Saturday with three of the Experiment Containers maintaining power. For this investigation, normal and mutated forms of thale cress, a model research plant, are germinated to support the study of the plants’ gravity and light perception. Results provide insight into …

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has arrived in Florida to begin final preparations for its launch to the Sun, scheduled for July 31, 2018.

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) SpX-14 Operations: Overnight, the Robotics ground controllers released the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) from the SpaceX-14 Dragon Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture (FRGF).  They performed a survey of the Dragon trunk and then unstowed the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) from Mobile Base System (MBS) Power Data Grapple Fixture 2 …

SpX-14 Mission: After yesterday’s successful capture and berthing of Dragon, the crew ingressed the vehicle early this morning and began cargo transfer operations. Once the crew finishes unloading the center stack, they will transfer SpX-14 cold stowage into ISS assets and begin installation and activation of several payloads delivered by the vehicle. Mobile Servicing System …

The SpaceX Dragon space freighter is open for business today as the Expedition 55 crew begins unloading and activating new time-sensitive space experiments aboard the International Space Station. Astronaut Scott Tingle opened Dragon’s hatch this morning and was the first to enter the spaceship. He and fellow NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold began …

SpX-14 Mission:  At 5:40 am CDT this morning, the ISS crew used the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to capture the Dragon vehicle. This capture marked the first use of Forced Based Capture, a software enhancement to the Latching End Effector (LEE) that reduces loads on the snare cables, during SpaceX operations. Ground specialists …

While the International Space Station was traveling more than 250 miles over the southern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Norishige Kanai and NASA astronaut Scott Tingle captured the Dragon spacecraft at 6:40 a.m. EDT using the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. Ground controllers will now send …

SpaceX-14 Status: SpaceX has completed the CUCU Broadcast Test and configured CUCU and Dragon UHF for rendezvous.  The Dragon vehicle continues to follow the nominal rendezvous profile that supports an ISS capture tomorrow at 6:00 am CDT.  Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) Electric-Field Effects on Laminar Diffusion (E-Field) Flames:  In preparation for the upcoming …

The SpaceX Dragon space freighter is midway on its trip to the resupply the International Space Station’s Expedition 55 crew. Waiting to capture Dragon Wednesday morning are Flight Engineers Norishige Kanai and Scott Tingle. The two astronauts have been reviewing procedures and training on a computer for Dragon’s capture for a few weeks now. Kanai …