Blogs

NASA is postponing launch of the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) until 2018. The mission was previously planned to launch Dec. 8, 2017, on an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket from the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. NASA and Orbital ATK need additional time to assess a separation component of the rocket. More …

Astronaut’s Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight (Energy): Today the subject performed day 10, which is the last day of the 11-day (Day 0 through Day 10) Energy investigation, by collecting ISS tap water samples form the Potable Water Dispenser, collecting a urine sample, and downlinking the data from the sense wear activity monitor. The …

When you’re on top of the world—or orbiting it—there’s no better place to be. NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) had a late night yesterday, staying up to watch a special uplink from Mission Control: Game 7 of the World Series. The winning outcome was cause for celebration, as the Astros have many …

Routine—and not-so-routine—housekeeping duties continue for Expedition 53 aboard the International Space Station in preparation for an upcoming Orbital ATK 8 (OA-8) commercial launch targeted for Nov. 11. The crewmates prepared the Permanent Multipurpose Module rack fronts to accept cargo by moving smaller items off and staging them for disposal. During OA-8 cargo operations, the items …

Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM) Node 2 Lens Change: The crew configured the D2X camera for EarthKAM with the 180mm lens. EarthKAM allows thousands of students to photograph and examine Earth from a space crew’s perspective. Using the Internet, the students control a special digital camera mounted on-board the International …

Microbial Tracking-2:  The crew collected body and saliva samples in support of the Microbial Tracking-2 investigation today. The Microbial Tracking series-2 continues the monitoring of the types of microbes that are present on the International Space Station (ISS). It seeks to catalog and characterize potential disease-causing microorganisms aboard the ISS. The crew samples from pre-flight, …

Astronaut Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight (Energy): Over the weekend a 51S crewmember completed day 5 and 6 activities of the 11-day Energy experiment run. Today the subject performed day 7 activities by logging their food and drink consumptions throughout the day. The Energy investigation is conducted over an 11 day period (day 0 …

The Expedition 53 crew capped off last week’s investigations with fresh pickings of lettuce, cabbage and mizuna harvested from the Veg-03 investigation. There’s still some left, though, for the remainder of the vegetation will be allowed to grow and sprout new leaves. Since future long-duration explorers will expected to grow their own food to survive …

Satlet Initial Mission Proofs and Lessons (SIMPL) Deployment: Following the depressurization of the Japanese Experiment Module Airlock (JEMAL) yesterday, today ground controllers opened the outer hatch of the JEMAL and extended the slide table holding SIMPL.  Then the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) with the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) grappled and removed the Kaber …

Japanese Experiment Module Airlock (JEM A/L) Depress: The crew has depressurized the JEM A/L and vented the remaining air in preparation for the deployment of Satlet Initial Mission Proofs and Lessons (SIMPL) early Friday morning. Personal Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Monitor Installations: After reviewing reference material, the crew completed software and hardware installation activities by configuring …