NASA is targeting Tuesday, April 19 (Monday, April 18 in Eastern Time), to conduct a super pressure balloon (SPB) test flight launching from Wanaka Airport, New Zealand, on a potentially 100-day journey. Forecast surface and low-level winds are aligned for an early launch attempt; officials are watching trajectory projections closely. NASA will begin flight preparations …
Following extraction from Dragon, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) was installed to the International Space Station at 5:36 a.m. EDT. At the time of installation, the space station was flying over the Southern Pacific Ocean. It will remain attached to station for two-year test period. NASA is investigating concepts for habitats that can keep …
The second half of the J-level work platforms was lifted by crane and installed today in High Bay 3 inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The newly installed platform completes the second of 10 levels of work platforms that will surround and provide access to NASA’s Space Launch …
Cell Mechanosensing 3 (CMS-3) Operations: Following yesterday’s successful observation obtained by repositioning the thermal sample container to allow enough lighting through the microscope for imaging, the crew completed another microscope observation setting for CMS-3. CMS-3 is a JAXA investigation that identifies gravity sensors in skeletal muscle cells to develop countermeasures to muscle atrophy. Scientists believe …
Today’s blog post is from Oliver White, a postdoctoral researcher in planetary science at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. He studies the geomorphology and surface processes of planetary bodies in the outer solar system. Looking at the surface of a planet or moon for the first time can be bewildering, particularly when …
BEAM, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, will be removed from the back of the SpaceX Dragon late tonight before installation on the Tranquility module begins early Saturday. Expansion of the new habitat module won’t occur until late May for two years of habitability tests. Meanwhile, the six-member Expedition 47 crew kept up its very busy …
While local weather in Wanaka, New Zealand, is almost always lovely for locals and visitors alike, NASA’s Super Pressure Balloon team continues to evaluate multiple weather conditions, all of which need to align before moving into a launch attempt. Wind conditions at the surface level need to be light in order to facilitate work on …
Cell Mechanosensing 3 (CMS-3) Operations: The crew successfully initiated and completed another microscope observation setting for CMS-3, after repositioning the thermal sample container to allow enough lighting through the microscope for imaging. The investigation identifies gravity sensors in skeletal muscle cells to develop countermeasures to muscle atrophy. Scientists believe that the lack of mechanical stress …
The International Space Station will get a new module Saturday when the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is removed from the SpaceX Dragon and installed on the Tranquility module. BEAM will be attached to the station for two years of tests before expandable modules become a permanent feature of future spacecraft. NASA and its international …
SPHEROIDS De-installation: Following yesterday’s completion of the 2-day SPHEROIDS experiment run, Peake de-installed the SPHEROIDS experiment containers from Kubik 5 and transferred the containers into Minus Eight-degree Freezer for ISS (MELFI). The SPHEROIDS experiment investigates the effects of microgravity on endothelial cell function with respect to blood vessel formation, cellular proliferation, and programmed cell death. …
