It might seem unlikely that vegetation can survive in a sandy coastal environment that receives little rain, but plant communities along Peru’s southern coast have found a way. In December 2016, we published the top image showing a unique perspective of fog. From space, you can see the vast expanse of marine stratocumulus sweeping inland to fill some of Peru’s deep valleys. It is […]
64 Progress (64P) Undock: 64P successfully undocked from the Docking Compartment 1 (DC-1) port this morning at 8:25 AM CST. Deorbit burn was at 11:34 AM CST today followed by atmospheric entry and destruction. Crew Autonomous Scheduling Test (CAST): The third of five sessions was completed today. The objective of this session was to allow …
The Russian 64 Progress cargo vehicle undocked from the Pirs docking compartment at 9:25 a.m. EST. The Russian Progress 64 arrived at the space station July 18, after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan July 17. After more than six months at the station, the spacecraft is scheduled to deorbit at 12:34 p.m. where …
When people think of science, the first examples that come to mind are often dramatic triumphs—the moon landing, the invention of DNA sequencing, or the discovery of the polio vaccine. Almost every exciting experimental result, however, is the result of an enormous amount of unseen effort. Thorough preparation, resourceful improvisation, success and failure, and improvement […]
Fine Motor Skills (FMS): The crew performed their Flight Day 75 (FD75) FMS sessions this morning. Currently the crew is performing the test at a frequency of every 5 days for the first three months that they are onboard the ISS. After FD90 the crew will transition to a frequency of FMS sessions every 14 …
NASA reached the halfway point on testing of the launch umbilicals for its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft at the Launch Equipment Test Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Core Stage Forward Skirt Umbilical (CSFSU) underwent testing for four months. A team of engineers and technicians with the Engineering …
Scientists are researching how International Space Station astronauts adapt to new technology as NASA prepares to send humans beyond low-Earth orbit. Crew members will have to learn how to operate new types of spacecraft and adjust to planetary surfaces with different microgravity environments. As part of this research, Expedition 50 Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson from …
H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV)-6 Departure: This morning, the crew finished closing out the Node 2 vestibule by demating all umbilicals and depressurizing the vestibule between HTV-6 and Node 2 in preparation for the unberth. Commands were sent to the release Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) bolts prior to unberth. Robotic Flight Controllers then maneuvered HTV-6 to …
Three thick layers of cake and frosting sat atop Jeff Schmaltz’s kitchen counter. The programmer had completed a 3-D model of a GIBS tile pyramid; it was his entry into a collegial science bake-off at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. But there was more to this cake than flour and eggs and sugar. If you have ever browsed […]
8 Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) and Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA commanded the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to release a Japanese cargo vehicle at 10:46 a.m. EST. At the time of release, the station was flying 261 statute miles above the south Atlantic Ocean. Earlier, ground …
