Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME): The crew replaced the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) manifold bottles this morning. To prepare for the second part of the CLD Flames investigation the crew configured the ACME Chamber Insert, replaced the igniter tip, and replaced two ACME controllers. The ACME experiment series being performed in the CIR includes …
Main Engine Cutoff, Second Stage Engine Ignition Completed
The main engine has cut off, and second stage engine has ignited as planned on the Falcon 9 rocket carrying GRACE-FO to orbit. The payload fairing, which protects the payloads during launch, has been jettisoned.
Station Crew Juggles Science, Cargo Mission and Spacewalk Preps
The Expedition 55 crew members had a full complement of work today as they conducted microgravity research, trained to capture a resupply ship and prepared for a June spacewalk. Astronaut Norishige Kanai explored how living and working in space affects everything from fluid physics to the human body today. He first set up hardware to …
Liftoff! Falcon 9 Rises with GRACE-FO
The SpaceX Falcon rocket lifted off Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force at 12:47 p.m. PDT, carrying the NASA/German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On mission. In about two and a half minutes, a series of critical milestones will occur in rapid succession, starting with main engine cutoff.
Science Teams, German Mission Control GO for Launch
As the GRACE Follow-On countdown continues, science teams in the U.S. and Germany and mission control team at the German Spacecraft Operations Center (GSOC, shown here) are both GO for launch. NASA’s GRACE-FO partner, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), subcontracted mission operations to the German Space Agency, which operates GSOC. Credit: NASA/Jim Round
Falcon 9 Fueling Underway
The fueling of the SpaceX Falcon 9 has begun.
Sunny Skies for the GRACE-FO Launch
It’s a beautiful day for a launch. In several locations around Vandenberg Air Force Base, and at the German Space Operations Center near Munich, engineers and scientists from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission are at their computers and communications consoles for the countdown and go/no go poll to verify all systems …
Chilling Out During Liquid Oxygen Tank Test
Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) chilled out recently with a pressurization test of the liquid oxygen (LO2) tank at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida – Pad 39B, recently upgraded by the EGS team for the agency’s new Space Launch System rocket. The six-hour test of the giant sphere checked for leaks …
GRACE-FO and Falcon 9 Are Standing Tall
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the GRACE-FO twin satellites was raised into the vertical launch position this evening at Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:47 p.m. PDT tomorrow, May 22. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Launch Weather Report for GRACE Follow-On
At this morning’s briefing on the GRACE-FO mission at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, U.S. Air Force Capt. Jennifer Haden, weather officer with the 30th Space Wing, reported a greater than 90 percent chance of favorable weather for liftoff tomorrow, May 2.. For once, the central California coastline’s predominant fog is predicted to be …