Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The November 2017 puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what we are looking at, when the image was acquired, and why the scene is interesting. How to answer. You can use a few words or several paragraphs. You might simply tell us the […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 11/28/2017
Sabatier Removal for Return: In preparation for returning Sabatier, today the crew completed the first of two days of activities by removing the Sabatier unit from the Oxygen Generation System (OGS) Rack. They also completed some near term preventive maintenance activities by performing an H2 Sensor Removal and Replacement (R&R) and Avionics Air Assembly (AAA) …
Station Being Configured for Cargo and Crew Missions

The Expedition 53 crew is configuring the orbital complex for a pair of cargo missions and a crew swap in December. Two colorful soccer ball-sized satellites were also floating around inside the International Space Station being tested today. SpaceX has announced it is now targeting Dec. 8 for the launch of its Dragon cargo craft …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 11/27/2017
Earth Imagery from ISS Target Operations: Over the weekend, the crew captured images and video footage of the Australian Desert, Italy at night, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, and Ireland to Moscow at night. The Earth Imagery from ISS investigation creates a series of videos, displaying Earth from space. These videos will be taken with …
Cygnus Departure Preps as Muscle Study and CubeSat Ops Wrap Up

The Cygnus resupply ship is in its final week at the International Space Station and two astronauts are training for its departure on Monday. Meanwhile, a leg muscle study and CubeSat deployment operations are wrapping up today. Cygnus is now being filled with trash after delivering close to 7,400 pounds of research and supplies to …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 11/23/2017
Cygnus Cargo Operations: The crew completed 12 hours and 45 minutes of Cygnus cargo operations today, at this time the crew has completed 84% of the cargo operations for this Cygnus mission. Ground specialist estimate the crew will require approximately 8 hours to complete the remaining cargo operations. Sarcolab-3: After successfully completing three days of …
Peek Inside the P-3 Flying Laboratory
NASA’s DC-8 is usually the aircraft flown from South America to Antarctica for the IceBridge mission’s annual research flights over the continent. But this year, the DC-8 was booked for a different mission, so NASA’s P-3 filled in. Since late October, the P-3 crew and instrument operators have been making flights out of Ushuaia, Argentina, to map Antarctica’s ice. The scenery outside is […]
ISS Daily Summary Report – 11/22/2017
Sarcolab-3: This morning with Russian operator assistance, a USOS subject ingressed the Muscle Atrophy Research & Exercise System (MARES) chair in the Columbus module and adjusted pads and restraints for the Sarcolab-3 ankle protocol. The operator collected ultrasound images of the subject’s leg. Today’s activities conclude the 3-day ankle protocol that began on GMT 324. …
SPURS-2 on R/V Revelle 2017 – Epilogue
We had an excellent and successful expedition.
Muscle Research and Science Cargo Work Ahead of Thanksgiving

The six-member Expedition 53 crew heads into Thanksgiving observing how living in space affects the human body and packing the Cygnus cargo craft. The orbital crewmates are also preparing for next month’s arrival of the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship. Veteran space station residents Paolo Nespoli and Sergey Ryazanskiy were back inside the Columbus lab module …


