Blogs

Modern “CubeSat” satellites are smaller and more numerous than ever.

The three International Space Station residents upgraded computer hardware and software today. The crew is also heading into the weekend preparing for the arrival of a new crew and a new cargo shipment. Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet replaced outdated routers this morning with new ones providing expanded capabilities in the station’s …

Fine Motor Skills (FMS): The crew performed a series of interactive tasks to complete a FMS session. The investigation studies how the fine motor skills are effected by long-term microgravity exposure, different phases of microgravity adaptation, and sensorimotor recovery after returning to Earth gravity. The goal of this investigation is to understand how fine motor …

Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineers Thomas Pesquet and Oleg Novitskiy juggled a wide variety of space science and human research Thursday. The Expedition 51 trio also switched roles from orbital scientists to high-flying technicians maintaining the systems of the International Space Station. Whitson started the day testing her fine motor skills to help researchers …

Lighting Effects: The 49S subject conducted three Lighting Effects tests as shown below.  This is the second week of Lighting Effects activities for this subject. Biochem Profile/Repository Test: Upon wakeup, subject provided a sleep log entry before conducting the second half of the 48-hour urine collection process that began yesterday. Each sample was stowed in …

The three Expedition 51 crew members aboard the International Space Station are waiting for a new cargo shipment and a new crew to arrive next week. The orbiting trio are also performing human research and working on U.S. spacesuits. A pair of spaceships are due next week at the space station. The Orbital ATK Cygnus …

Lighting Effects:  Upon wakeup, the 49S subject provided a sleep log entry and began the first half of a 48-hour urine collection to support the Sleep Shift and Biochem Profile/Repository portion of the Lighting Effects investigation.  Subject conducted four urine collections which are performed within a 24-hour period. Each sample was stowed in the Minus …

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough is back in Houston just 24 hours after landing in Kazakhstan completing a 173-day mission in space. He arrived home aboard a NASA aircraft Tuesday morning while his two Expedition 50 crewmates, cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko, have returned to Moscow. Three crew members are staying behind on the International …

Multiple areas of low pressure with associated precipitation and unfavorable winds have settled in over New Zealand preventing NASA from attempting a super pressure balloon launch from Wanaka over the next several days. “Conditions do not look favorable for the next four to five days given the winds, forecast rain, and uncertainties with Tropical Cyclone …

Four years ago today, one of the largest non-volcanic landslides in U.S. history began high on the northern wall of Utah’s Bingham Canyon mine.