Of all the flight and launch vehicles NASA operates, none is perhaps as persnickety when it comes to weather as a scientific balloon. And of the two main types of balloons NASA flies—zero pressure and super pressure balloons—the super pressure is the most persnickety of all. For launch, winds need to be light and flowing …
Dose Tracker Data Entry: The crew performed their weekly Dose Tracker data logging, responding to a questionnaire which asks if crew members have used medications since the last entry, what prompted them to use the medication, how well it worked, how frequently they repeated doses, and if the medication caused side effects. The Dose Tracker …
Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson is set to go on her eighth spacewalk Thursday morning and surpass astronaut Suni Williams’ record for the most spacewalks by a female astronaut. Whitson’s last spacewalk was on Jan. 6 with Commander Shane Kimbrough when she hooked up new lithium-ion batteries and inspected the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Read …
Body Measures: Earlier this morning, the 49S subject performed the Body Measures Flight Day (FD) 135 session. With assistance from a trained operator the crew conducted a Body Measures data collection, configuring still cameras and video and collecting the Neutral Body Posture video prior to stowing the equipment. NASA is collecting in-flight anthropometric data (body …
The crew researched the effects of living in space and set up a specialized microscope for a physics experiment today. Two astronauts are also getting ready for a Thursday spacewalk to continue setting up the International Space Station for commercial crew vehicles. Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Thomas Pesquet used a tape measure this morning …
NASA’s next super pressure balloon (SPB) mission out of Wanaka, New Zealand, is enabling a pioneering method for studying high-energy cosmic rays from space using a detector looking down on the Earth’s atmosphere. The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon (EUSO-SPB) is a mission of opportunity flying on the 2017 SPB test …
Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA)3 Relocation: Yesterday, Robotics Ground Controllers utilized the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to grapple and relocate PMA3 from Node3 Port to Node2 Zenith. After the relocation, they ungrappled PMA3 and maneuvered the SSRMS in position ready to provide viewing support for EVA 41 (Enhanced Processor Integrated Communications (EPIC) External Multiplexer/Demultiplexer …
The Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) was robotically removed Sunday from the Tranquility module and attached to the Harmony module after being prepared during a successful spacewalk Friday. A second spacewalk is scheduled for Thursday at 8 a.m. EDT to finalize the PMA-3 cable connections on Harmony. Download hi-res video of briefing animations depicting the activities …
The acting U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand, Chargé d’Affaires Candy Green, paid a visit to Wanaka Airport, New Zealand, March 23 to see first-hand NASA’s super pressure balloon operations, the science it supports, and the combined U.S.-Kiwi team behind it all. While on site, Green observed the final flight readiness test of the University of …
US Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #40: EV1 Kimbrough and EV2 Pesquet completed the following tasks during today’s 6 hour 34 minute External (EXT) Enhanced Processor and Integrated Communications (EPIC) Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) Lube EVA. FE-6 Whitson provided Intravehicular (IV) Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) support. Planned EVA Tasks Completed External Thermal Control System …
