While the launch window for NASA’s next Super Pressure Balloon launch from Wanaka, New Zealand, opens March 25, there are a number of factors that need to align prior to making an actual launch attempt. Operationally, all the balloon systems—power, communications, telemetry, etc.—need to be checked out and tested. Today, as seen in the accompanying …
With the decision today to move the OA7 launch to NET March 27, we have decided to move the IMMT OA7 Readiness Review from March 22 to March 27. We will have the IMMT OA7 RR at 08:00 CDT on March 27 and if OA7 launches later that day, it would be around 18:49 CDT. …
The Expedition 50 crew is gearing up for three spacewalks over two weeks to continue the external maintenance at the International Space Station. Also, the SpaceX Dragon is returning to port today after completing a month-long stay at the station. Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet will begin the first spacewalk Friday at 8 a.m. …
The SAGE III instrument has been powered on and is collecting preliminary science data from the International Space Station. Prior to “first light”, the team completed activation of the instrument payload. On Wednesday, March 15, the SAGE III mission operations and engineering teams, along with on-site representatives of Thales Alenia Space – Italy (TAS-I) providing key […]
Dragon was successfully released by the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and is on its way to re-entry. Splash down is scheduled for 9:50 am CDT.
SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 10:46 a.m. EDT, about 200 miles southwest of Long Beach, California, marking the end of the company’s tenth contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. Expedition 50 astronauts Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) and Shane Kimbrough of NASA …
Expedition 50 astronauts Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) and Shane Kimbrough of NASA released the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station‘s robotic arm at 5:11 a.m. EDT. With the spacecraft a safe distance from the station, SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, will command its deorbit burn around 10 a.m. …
Aviators, skydivers and other altitude-seeking enthusiasts flying out of Wanaka Airport, New Zealand, are double taking at a new topographical feature reminiscent of an alien crop circle. Rest assured, the nearly 2,000-foot (600-meter) diameter circle with a pie-shaped wedge on one side and spokes on the other is no extraterrestrial footprint and it’s definitely no …
Dragon SpaceX (SpX)-10 Unberth: The crew packed critical items and egressed the vehicle in preparation for Dragon departure. Dragon was unberthed from the ISS via ground commanding at approximately 4:45 PM CST today. Ground teams have started maneuvering the Dragon into a IDA viewing position followed by another maneuver about an hour and a half …
In preparation for NASA’s next Super Pressure Balloon flight from Wanaka, New Zealand, NASA’s balloon team unpacked the top and bottom fittings of the balloon March 17 to perform test and integration work prior to launch. The 18.8-million-cubic-foot (532,000-cubic-meter) balloon is enormous – about the size of a football stadium – when fully inflated. The …
