NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft – and the rocket that will carry it into space, the United Launch Alliance Atlas V – are making significant strides toward launch, planned for Sept. 8. Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians have installed thermal blankets around the spacecraft (pictured above), culminating …
Two NASA astronauts are readying their spacesuits and gear ahead of an Aug. 19 spacewalk. More life science, including heart and DNA research, continued Friday. Finally, tiny internal satellites were tested before next week’s student competition. Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins inspected the spacesuits they will wear in two weeks during a …
The 2015 fire season was the most severe ever observed by NASA Earth Observing System satellites, a new study shows. As we reported in December, 2015 was an intense fire season in Indonesia because the drying effects of El Niño exacerbated seasonal fires lit by growers. Many farmers lost control of fires, which then spread […]
Fluid Shifts Operations In the Service Module: With ground team assistance, crewmembers continued supporting Fluid Shifts Imaging exams that began yesterday by configuring the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and the Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission (DPOAE) hardware before completing a DPOAE test, OCT exam, and a Tonometry exam. The purpose of this investigation is to characterize …
Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams has accumulated 500 days of living in space over four missions as of today. Williams, who is scheduled to return to Earth Sept. 6, will break NASA astronaut Scott Kelly’s record of 520 days on Aug. 24. While Williams marked his milestone, he spent most of the day researching fluid …
I have been looking forward to the second leg of the ATom mission since I first worked up the plan, collaborating with the others on the leadership team and with the flight operations crew from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Center. It would start in the hot, high desert in Palmdale, California, and journey to the high […]
This blog is from Hal Weaver, who joined the New Horizons team in May 2002, his first assignment after taking a job at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He started out as the principal investigator for the LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and in 2003 became the New Horizons project scientist. Now that …
Fluid Shifts Operations In the Service Module: With ground team assistance, crewmembers configured the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) hardware, the Cerebral and Cochlear Fluid Pressure (CCFP) analyzer, and the Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission (DPOAE) hardware before conducting a DPOAE test, OCT exam, and the Tonometry exam. The scheduled CCFP test was not completed due to …
The first of two Tail Service Mast Umbilicals (TSMUs) for NASA’s Space Launch System arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida from Precision Fabrication and Cleaning in Cocoa. The TSMU was moved to the Launch Equipment Test Facility, where it will undergo testing to ensure it functions properly. Both TSMUs will connect from the zero-level …
Two astronauts are getting ready for a spacewalk amidst ongoing heart and genetics research this week. The crew also practiced the techniques necessary to care for a crew member during a medical emergency in space. Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins are due to complete the installation of a new International Docking Adapter …
