FLame EXtinguishment (FLEX)-2 Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA) Exchange: This morning, the crew was scheduled to perform a Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF) MDCA replacement in preparation for the FLEX-2 experiment. The Crew was unable to remove the MDCA Chamber Insert Assembly (CIA) from the Combustion Integration Rack (CIR) Combustion Chamber. Ground teams will meet …
Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) Centrifuge Remove and Replace (R&R): The crew was scheduled to remove the 1G centrifuge from the CBEF and install a new centrifuge. However, the bag with the new centrifuge could not be found. Teams are investigating impacts to downstream science and opportunities to launch replacement hardware. The CBEF is a …
Marrow Air Sampling: The crew performed their first Marrow air sampling collection today. A breath sample and ambient air sample were collected and stowed for return on a later flight. The Marrow investigation looks at the effect of microgravity on the bone marrow. It is believed that microgravity, like long-duration bed rest on Earth, has …
Six International Space Station crew members are heading in to the Thanksgiving holiday with human research activities and orbital lab maintenance. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is the most experienced crew member in space right now getting ready to spend her third holiday season on orbit. Today, she stowed the tools used for space plumbing work …
Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Maintenance: Ground specialists met to discuss the WHC leak that occurred yesterday. Based on review of the imagery the crew took during the cleanup, the ground specialists determined the most likely source of the leak to be a hydroconnector on the Urine Valve Block, but determined that since all of …
At the conclusion of Flight Readiness Review at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, senior NASA and contractor managers voted unanimously to proceed with processing toward the targeted launch of the CYGNSS mission on an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket on Monday, Dec. 12. The team is progressing towards mating the Pegasus rocket to …
Three new crew members are in their first week aboard the International Space Station. They joined the Expedition 50 crew Saturday bringing the occupancy of the orbital lab to six humans. The two U.S. astronauts, three cosmonauts and one French astronaut are getting ready for Thanksgiving in space. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is beginning her …
Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Potential Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Leak: This morning an unexpected caution indicating “UPA Potential WSTA leak” annunciated following use of the Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC). The crew isolated the UPA and WHC was configured to internal [EDV] to isolate the system. An on-orbit inspection by the crew showed pretreated …
Expedition 50 robotic arm operators Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) commanded the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to release the Cygnus spacecraft at 8:22 a.m. EST while the space station was flying 251 miles over the Pacific Ocean, off the west coast of Colombia. Earlier, ground controllers …
Pam Sullivan, the GOES-R mission director, confirms that the GOES-R completed its solar array deployment for tonight and the spacecraft. The satellite is flying through space in a transfer orbit that it will eventually circularize on its own. The deployment completes the launch of the GOES-R satellite. There will be about five months of orbit …
