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 …
What do you see when you go on a research cruise? This is the most common question I get asked when I enthusiastically tell stories of our adventures at sea. For most people, the word “cruise” means travelling from one place to another (often islands or coastal cities) by sea. Our research cruise apparently has […]
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 …
Never Boring “Wow, what an exciting life you lead” is a seemingly cliché response I get when the topic of what I do for a living comes up in casual conversation with strangers. I know for a fact (from having to clarify enough times, as I’m sure everyone aboard has also) that those people envision […]
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 …
Sleeping on a ship… Sleep. We all need it. But how much do we actually need? As I’ve discovered the past couple of days, half an hour just won’t cut it! I became a grumbling, tired zombie – an absolute pleasure to be around (not…). Throw in an extra 2-hour post-second-breakfast nap, however, and I […]
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 …
Back when I was in Boy Scouts, my troop would spend the better part of a week at summer camp doing Scout things. Tying square knots, whittling sticks, trying to swim, not showering. Pretty typical stuff. To spice things up a bit, my buddies and I would go down to the Trading Post in camp […]
