Flight controllers and the Expedition 48 crew are preparing for tonight’s International Docking Adapter extraction work and Friday morning’s installation spacewalk. The orbital residents are also continuing to load the SpaceX Dragon with gear and science for return to Earth. Controllers on the ground checked the Canadian robotics systems they will use to remove the …
Hi there, After a science-packed 3 weeks on the ice sheet, the team has returned to Kulusuk, more successful than we ever expected. We accomplished the following: Drilled ice cores at three sites to measure firn density, and to take chemistry samples Installed wells at three sites for water sampling Measured firn permeability at different […]
Fluid Shifts Imaging with Chibis in the Service Module (SM): With ground team assistance, crewmembers continued the final week of this set of Fluid Shifts operations by configuring the Ultrasound 2 hardware prior to performing ultrasound scans in the SM while using the Chibis. The Fluids Shift investigation is divided into three segments: Dilution Measures, …
Space station and Commercial Crew managers wrapped up a spacewalk briefing Monday afternoon discussing the installation of a new International Docking Adapter at the end of the week. Spacewalkers Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins will begin the installation work Friday at 8:05 a.m. EDT to enable future crew vehicles from Boeing and SpaceX to dock …
On the next part of our journey the DC-8 traversed the tropical Pacific Ocean. I have always been deeply fascinated by this part of the atmosphere. The tropical Pacific Ocean lies over very warm water heated by the sun, and it is often considered to be the “firebox” of the atmosphere, the place where vast […]
While gymnasts leap, cyclists pedal, and divers twirl for Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro, sensors on several NASA Earth Observing satellites are catching glimpses of the city and its surroundings from space. The mix of satellites and sensors in orbit are nearly as varied and diverse as the athletes competing below. The marathoner among […]
Mouse Epigenetics Cage Unit Maintenance: The crew completed standard maintenance for the Mouse Epigenetics experiment by refilling the Transportation Cage Units and Mouse Habitat Cage Unit with water and checking the water nozzles of the individual cages. The Mouse Epigenetics investigation studies altered gene expression patterns in the organs of male mice that spend one …
By Eric Lindstrom Two ships in Honolulu were abuzz with action this last week preparing for SPURS-2, a detailed study of ocean salinity in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. The Roger Revelle, upon which all the scientific party sails, had to be loaded with many tons of scientific equipment and installations completed all over the […]
Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) Zero Robotics (ZR) Competition: A USOS and Russian crewmember set up the SPHERES hardware and executed the SPHERES Zero Robotics tests with participation from students on the ground. The investigation provides an opportunity for high school students to design research for the ISS. As part of a …
The other day I had a unique and difficult experience. I was on the tarmac at Kona International Airport, Hawaii, and I watched the DC-8 take-off, with all my colleagues, our crew and my instruments on board. This wasn’t planned, and no, I hadn’t just missed my flight. Somewhere between California and Alaska I caught a […]
