Blogs

NASA’s super pressure balloon team in Wanaka, New Zealand, continues to evaluate weather daily for conditions that could support a launch attempt of the pumpkin-shaped, football-stadium-sized balloon. At this time, the weather running through Thursday, April 7, will not support a launch attempt. Weekend weather is showing some potential, but the final call for any …

63 Progress (63P) Docking: 63P docked successfully to the Service Module (SM) Aft docking port on Saturday. Capture occurred at 12:57 PM CDT with hook closure at 1:03 PM CDT.   Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Protein Crystal Growth (PCG) Installation: On Sunday, Peake installed 2 canisters containing 38 protein samples into the PCRF to …

The six station residents researched advanced space science today inside the orbital laboratory. The crew is also training for the automated arrival and robotic installment of the SpaceX Dragon. The crew members are exploring how living in space affects the human muscular system and heart function. The crew also preparing a high quality protein crystal …

Weather. Most of us are content with tuning into the news, picking up a newspaper, opening up a smartphone app, or perhaps even relying on a trick knee to get a general sense of the day’s weather outlook. Cloudy, sunny, rainy, windy, snowy. Pleasant, frigid, heat wave, cold snap. With the daily forecast in hand, …

The Progress 63 cargo spacecraft docked successfully to the rear port of the Zvezda Service Module on the International Space Station at 1:58 p.m. EDT. The Kurs automated docking system enabled a smooth rendezvous as the cargo resupply craft and the International Space Station flew about 250 miles above Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Progress …

Dr. Steven Boggs, professor and head of the Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, describes the objectives of the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI), a gamma-ray telescope set for liftoff to the near space environment via a NASA super pressure balloon. The balloon launch is scheduled for no earlier than Monday, April 4, from Wanaka, …

Strata-1 Payload Activation: Earlier this morning Peake moved the Space Acceleration Measurement System (SAMS) sensor enclosure from the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) to the Strata-1 payload for activation and checkout activities. When Peak switched the main power switch on, an overcurrent trip occurred on the Solid State Power Control Module (SSPCM) channel for Express Rack …

The Expedition 47 crew will receive a space delivery from Russia this weekend. SpaceX is counting down to the launch of another space shipment on its Dragon space freighter scheduled for April 8 from Florida. Onboard the International Space Station, the crew checked out U.S. spacesuits and advanced science hardware. The station residents also explored …

Today’s blog post is from Ross Beyer, a planetary scientist with the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. He studies surface geomorphology, surface processes, remote sensing and photogrammetry of the solid bodies in our solar system. I’ve always loved maps, and I’ve always loved planets …

63 Progress (63P) Launch: 63P launched at 11:23AM CDT today. Orbital insertion was nominal, and the vehicle is performing well.  Docking is scheduled to occur this Saturday at 1:00PM CDT.   Thermolab De-instrumentation for Circadian Rhythms: Peake removed the double sensors and the Thermolab Unit before cleaning and stowing the equipment after completing the measurement …