With thousands of homes threatened by intense wildfires burning in southern California, we checked in with NASA Propulsion Laboratory scientist Natasha Stavros to learn more about the destructive blazes.
Crews Prepare to Swap Places as Station Eyes California Wildfires
Two International Space Station crews are preparing to swap places at the orbital lab next week. In the midst of the crew swap activities, Commander Randy Bresnik also sent down dramatic photographs of the wildfires in California. The Expedition 52-53 trio is getting its Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft ready for a three-and-a-half hour ride back to …
GOES-S Unpacked for Start of Prelaunch Preps
Technicians and engineers at the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility have placed NOAA’s GOES-S satellite on a work stand to begin routine but critical preflight inspections, tests and checkouts. These processing milestones will ensure the spacecraft is ready to withstand the rigors of launch and take its place as the second in a new …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 12/06/2017
OA-8 Cygnus Release: After yesterday’s unberth and the overnight GPS shadowing (“Photobomb”) Detailed Test Objective (DTO), today SSRMS ground controllers relocated the Cygnus vehicle to the release point and the onboard crew released the vehicle and monitored its departure. Cygnus will be held in that position overnight and then repositioned for release tomorrow. Cygnus arrived …
Purple Gaze: Parker Solar Probe’s Solar Arrays Pass Laser Illumination Testing
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe passed laser illumination testing the week of Nov. 27, 2017. During this test, each segment of the spacecraft’s solar panels was illuminated with lasers to check that they were still electrically connected after the vigorous vibration and acoustic testing completed earlier this fall.
The PI’s Perspective: Wrapping up 2017 En Route to Our Next Flyby
New Horizons is in good health and cruising closer each day to its next encounter: a flyby of the Kuiper Belt object (KBO) 2014 MU69 (or “MU69” for short). If you follow our mission, you likely know that flyby will occur on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 2019, which is just barely over …
Astronauts Command Robotic Arm to Release Cygnus Cargo Craft
After delivering almost 7,400 pounds of cargo to support dozens of science experiments from around the world, the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo spacecraft has departed the International Space Station. At 8:11 a.m., Expedition 53 Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA gave the command to release Cygnus. On Tuesday, Dec. 5, ground …
Cygnus Cargo Craft Leaves Station Wednesday Morning
The Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo spacecraft is set to leave the International Space Station on Wednesday, Dec. 6. NASA Television and the agency’s website will provide live coverage of Cygnus’ departure beginning at 7:45 a.m. EST. Cygnus arrived to the space station Nov. 14 with nearly 7,400 pounds of cargo to support dozens of science …
SpaceX Launch Slips, Cygnus Leaving and BEAM Stay Extended
SpaceX has delayed the launch of its next Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station to no earlier than Dec. 12. Back on orbit, the Cygnus cargo craft is getting ready to leave the orbital lab and an experimental module has its stay in space extended for at least another three years. NASA and …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 12/05/2017
Cygnus unberth: This morning, the crew egressed Cygnus. They then configured the vestibule and prepared to depressurize the vestibule. Ground teams identified EMI as the cause of the pressure probe anomaly and successfully depressurized the vestibule. Later, the Cygnus vehicle was unberthed and positioned it for the GPS shadowing (“photobomb”) Developmental Test Objective (DTO). Cygnus …