Blogs

Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Leak Update: Express Rack (ER)5 was isolated yesterday as part of the on-going search for the JEM MTL leak. While Space Station Integration and Promotion Center (SSIPC) continues to monitor total JEM MTL fluid volume, the slow low leak rate takes approximately 24 hours to manifest in …

The Expedition 56 crew members explored how human health and physical processes are affected off the Earth today. The orbital residents are also configuring the International Space Station for a Russian spacewalk next week and a Japanese cargo craft mission in September. A long-running human research study is helping doctors understand the impacts of microgravity …

Media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 15, with a 40-minute window opening at 8:46 a.m. EDT (5:46 a.m. PDT). ICESat-2 will provide precise measurements of the changing height of Earth’s glaciers, ice sheets and sea ice. The spacecraft will lift off …

Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Leak Update: The JEM MTL leak continues with the rate of 20 mL/day. On Friday, the crew completed a visual inspection of the Gas Trap Bypass Valve in the JEM Thermal Control System (TCS)2 rack but were unable to find evidence of a leak. They also isolated …

Teams preparing for launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe are beginning a busy week leading up to liftoff, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 11, at 3:33 a.m. EDT, the opening of a 65-minute window. The spacecraft will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex 37 on Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The six-member Expedition 56 crew was busy Tuesday juggling science hardware maintenance and a variety of research work. The orbital residents are also helping students contribute to space research and testing an ancient navigation technique. A cancer study wrapped up last week and astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor stowed the life science gear today used during operations …

As astronauts prepare for trips to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, their last steps before boarding an Orion spacecraft will be across the Crew Access Arm (CAA) on the mobile launcher. Earlier this year, the CAA was added to the mobile launcher being prepared to support NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the …

Two Expedition 56 cosmonauts are getting ready for a spacewalk set for next week as the rest of the International Space Station crew took the day off. A Russian cargo craft is also poised to take out the trash and depart the orbital lab at the end of the month. Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergey …

SpaceX-15 Dragon Unberth and Release: Early this morning, the crew removed power connections, utility jumpers and completed closeout of the Dragon vehicle prior to depressurization of the Node 2 (N2) Nadir vestibule. Robotics ground controllers used the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to unberth Dragon at 9:37 AM CDT and the crew released the …

Robotic flight controllers released the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station’s robotic arm at 12:38 p.m. EDT, and Expedition 56 Serena Auñon-Chancellor of NASA is monitoring its departure. Dragon’s thrusters will be fired to move the spacecraft a safe distance from the station before SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, command its deorbit …