Blogs

There is a robotic revolution going on in oceanography.

Personal Radiation Shielding for Interplanetary Missions (PERSEO):  Today the crew performed an initial checkout of a radiation shielding garment for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) PERSEO Project. They filled the garment with water, donned the garment, and later doffed the garment before draining the water.  PERSEO evaluates the efficacy of a personal radiation protection system, …

The Expedition 53 crew explored ways to protect astronauts from space radiation as well as dust particles floating inside a spacecraft. The residents of the International Space Station also worked on cosmic ray gear, a U.S. spacesuit and audio equipment. European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli tested a personal radiation shielding garment today. Water, used …

Sometimes the technology of the lab and the concept of an experiment run afoul of reality and the sea.

  Orbital ATK’s eighth commercial cargo mission is set to launch to the International Space Station at 7:37 a.m. EST Veteran’s Day on Nov. 11. The Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus cargo craft will blast off from Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, with over 7,000 pounds of food, supplies and research gear. Two astronauts will be …

MBSU transfer and installation:  On Friday, ground controllers attempted to transfer the recently repaired spare Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) through the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock (A/L) and install it on its stowage location on External Stowage Platform 2 (ESP2).  The JEM A/L outer door opened as commanded, but the slide table did not …

VEG-03 Science Harvest: The crew cut one to three leaves from each plant for consumption and then preserved them in foil and inserted them into cold stowage for science data. The remainder of the plants will be left to grow and sprout new leaves.  The Veg-03 investigation uses the Veggie plant growth facility to cultivate …

When astronauts depart for missions to deep space, they will cross the Crew Access Arm about 300 feet above the ground to board their spacecraft. The access arm was delivered to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 17, 2017, to install on the mobile launcher in preparation for the first flight of the …

NASA is postponing launch of the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) until 2018. The mission was previously planned to launch Dec. 8, 2017, on an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket from the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. NASA and Orbital ATK need additional time to assess a separation component of the rocket. More …

Astronaut’s Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight (Energy): Today the subject performed day 10, which is the last day of the 11-day (Day 0 through Day 10) Energy investigation, by collecting ISS tap water samples form the Potable Water Dispenser, collecting a urine sample, and downlinking the data from the sense wear activity monitor. The …