Russian cargo ship docks with space station

April 25, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — An unmanned Russian cargo capsule docked with the International Space Station, bringing more than 2 tons of supplies to the three-person crew. The Progress spacecraft docked at 0512 GMT Saturday, about 3 1/2 hours after blasting off from Russia’s Baikonur launch complex in Kazakhstan.

The ship carried fuel, water, food, medicine and other supplies. There are three astronauts aboard the space station: Russia’s Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, and Chris Cassidy of the United States.

SpaceX Dragon Heads to Space Station After Successful Launch

by James Cawley for NASA ISS News
Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX)
May 04, 2019

More than 5,500 pounds of cargo is on its way to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The company's 17th commercial cargo mission to resupply the space station began at 2:48 a.m. EDT on May 4, 2019, with liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Kenny Todd, International Space Station Operations and Integration manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, explained during the postlaunch press conference that launch success far overshadowed fatigue with the early morning launch.

"If you have to be up, I can't think of a better reason than to see one of these launches - it was absolutely spectacular," Todd said. "We're really excited to get Dragon on board in a couple of days."

After a successful climb into space, the Dragon spacecraft now is in orbit with its solar arrays deployed and drawing power.

"We had a beautiful launch today; it was really great," said Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's vice president, Build and Flight Reliability. "Dragon is on the way, the orbiter is great - it's right on the money."

The Dragon spacecraft will deliver science, supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory. Science experiments include NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3) and Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6).

OCO-3 will be robotically installed on the exterior of the space station's Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility Unit, where it will measure and map carbon dioxide from space to increase our understanding of the relationship between carbon and climate.

STP-H6 is an X-ray communication investigation that will be used to perform a space-based demonstration of a new technology for generating beams of modulated X-rays. This technology may be useful for providing efficient communication to deep space probes, or communicating with hypersonic vehicles where plasma sheaths prevent traditional radio communications.

Live coverage of the rendezvous and capture will air on NASA Television and the agency's website beginning at 5:30 a.m. on Monday, May 6. Capture is scheduled for 7 a.m.; installation coverage is set to begin at 9 a.m. Astronauts aboard the station will capture the Dragon using the space station's robotic arm and then install it on the station's Harmony module.

The Dragon spacecraft will spend about four weeks attached to the space station, returning to Earth with more than 4,200 pounds of research, hardware and crew supplies.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SpaceX_Dragon_Heads_to_Space_Station_After_Successful_Launch_999.html.

Russian-US crew arrives at International Space Station

March 15, 2019

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — A Russian-American crew arrived at the International Space Station on Friday, five months after a botched launch led to an emergency landing for two of the three astronauts.

This time, the Russian Soyuz rocket carrying NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch along with Roscosmos' Alexei Ovchinin lifted off precisely as planned from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:14 a.m. Friday (1914 GMT Thursday).

Six hours later, their capsule docked at the orbiting outpost. On Oct. 11, a Soyuz carrying Hague and Ovchinin failed two minutes into flight, activating a rescue system that allowed their capsule to land safely. That accident was the first aborted crew launch for the Russian space program since 1983, when two Soviet cosmonauts safely jettisoned after a launch pad explosion.

On Friday, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine congratulated the crew on a successful launch. "So proud of Nick Hague for persevering through last October's launch that didn't go as planned," he tweeted.

Speaking at a pre-launch news conference at Baikonur, the astronauts said they trusted the rocket and fully believed in the success of their mission. "I'm 100 percent confident in the rocket and the spacecraft," Hague said. "The events from October only helped to solidify that and boost confidence in the vehicle to do its job."

The trio will join NASA's Anne McClain, Roscosmos' Oleg Kononenko and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency who are already on the space station. They will conduct work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science.

When one of the four strap-on boosters for their Soyuz failed to separate properly two minutes after their launch in October, Hague and Ovchinin were jettisoned from the rocket. Their rescue capsule plunged steeply back to Earth with its lights flashing and alarms screaming, subjecting the crew to seven times the force of gravity.

Hague emphasized Wednesday that they were well-trained for the emergency. "The nature of our profession is we spend 90-95 percent of our time practicing what to do when things go wrong," he said. "And so we spend all that time training, running through all those scenarios. And because we do train that way, like in October when things like that happened, we were ready to do what we need to do to come out successfully."

The October failure was the first aborted launch for the Russian space program in 35 years and only the third in history. Each time, the rocket's automatic rescue system kept the crew safe. A Russian investigation attributed October's launch failure to a sensor that was damaged during the rocket's final assembly. The next crew launch to the space station in December went on without a hitch.

Ovchinin recalled that they felt "more annoyed than stressed" when their rescue capsule touched down in the barren steppes of Kazakhstan. "It was disappointing and a bit frustrating that we didn't make it to the International Space Station," he said.

NASA and Roscosmos praised the crew's valor and composure in the aborted launch and promised to quickly give them a second chance into space. "We don't accept the risk blindly, we have mitigated it as much as we can, and we always plan to be successful," Hague said.

Ovchinin stressed that the aborted launch in October was an "interesting and very useful experience" that "proved the reliability of the emergency rescue system." Since the 2011 retirement of the U.S. shuttle fleet, Russia's Soyuz spacecraft have been the only vehicles that ferry crews to the space station.

NASA, however, is counting on SpaceX and Boeing to start launching astronauts later this year. The SpaceX ship Dragon returned Friday from a six-day test flight to the space station and could take astronauts there on its next flight as early as this summer.

Isachenkov reported from Moscow.

About 50 pieces of destroyed Indian satellite flying above ISS

Washington DC (Sputnik)
Apr 08, 2019

Around 60 fragments of India's Microsat-R military satellite are currently flying in orbit, 46 of which are flying in orbits located above the apogee of the International Space Station (ISS), according to the US Air Force's catalog, published on space-track.org website.

The US Air Force's catalog currently includes 57 Microsat-R fragments flying in orbits at altitudes from 159 kilometers to 2,248 kilometers (99-1,397 miles). As many as 46 of these fragments are flying in orbits above the ISS apogee, which stands at around 400 kilometers.

Ivan Moiseev, the head of the Russian Institute for Space Policy, has commented on the matter, telling Sputnik that fragments flying above the ISS were a threat, albeit an insignificant one.

"There is a threat coming from the Indian satellite, but it is a highly unlikely one", Moiseev said, explaining that the risk of collision was low because the ISS and the fragments had different inclinations.

India successfully tested its anti-missile weapon on 27 March destroying the Microsat-R in low-Earth orbit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has praised this as a benchmark event, stressing that the test has proven India's ability to safeguard its space assets.

Meanwhile, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has slammed the test, saying that it had created at least 400 pieces of debris, increasing the risk of the ISS colliding with debris by 44 percent.

Microsat-R, designed by the Indian Defense Research and Development Organization, was launched into orbit atop the PSLV carrier in January.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/About_50_Pieces_of_Destroyed_Indian_Satellite_Flying_Above_ISS___US_Air_Force_999.html.

At last minute, Russia scrubs cargo launch to space station

February 11, 2018

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has scrubbed the planned launch of an unmanned cargo spacecraft that was to have delivered tons of supplies to the International Space Station. Preparations for the launch of the Progress ship from the Baikonur complex in Kazakhstan appeared to be proceeding smoothly Sunday until less than a minute before the liftoff.

Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said the launch was halted after an automated command, but said the reason for the command was under investigation. It said the launch is rescheduled for Tuesday. The Russian spacecraft carry fuel, food and other supplies to the ISS. This one was to have attempted a new fast route to the station, docking just 3.5 hours after launch after just two Earth orbits.

There are six astronauts currently aboard the ISS — two Russians, three Americans and one from Japan.

3 astronauts blast off for International Space Station

December 17, 2017

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — A capsule carrying three astronauts from Russia, Japan and the United States has blasted off for a two-day trip to the International Space Station. The Soyuz capsule with Anton Shkaplerov, Norishige Kanai and Scott Tingle launched at 1:23 p.m. (0723 GMT; 2:23 a.m. EST) Sunday from Russia's manned space-launch complex in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. It entered orbit nine minutes later.

It is the first space flight for Tingle and Kanai; Shkaplerov is on his third mission to the ISS. The capsule is to dock on Tuesday with the orbiting space laboratory. The three will join Russia's Alexander Misurkin and Joe Acaba and Mark Vandde Hei of NASA, who have been aboard since September.

US spacewalkers repair aging ISS robotic arm

Miami (AFP)
Oct 5, 2017

Two NASA astronauts wrapped up a successful spacewalk Thursday to repair the International Space Station's aging robotic arm, the US space agency said.

The outing by Americans Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei ended at 3 pm (1900 GMT), marking a "very successful day," a NASA spokesman said.

The spacewalk lasted six hours and 55 minutes, almost a half hour longer than planned because the pair managed to tack on a few extra jobs that had been planned for next week.

Their main work involved the latching end of the Canadian-made arm, known as Canadarm2.

They replaced one of two Latching End Effectors (LEE) which had lost the ability to grip effectively, said the US space agency.

The 57.7 foot-long (18 meter) arm was instrumental in assembling the space station and is used to reach out and grab approaching cargo ships.

The robotic arm has been a key piece of equipment at the orbiting outpost for more than 16 years, but began malfunctioning in August.

NASA wants to restore its full capability before the next US cargo ship arrives next month, carrying supplies for the six astronauts living in orbit.

Thursday's spacewalk was the first of three scheduled spacewalks this month aimed at repairing and maintaining various pieces of equipment outside the ISS, and was the 203rd spacewalk in the history of the space station.

Vande Hei and Bresnik plan to step out on another spacewalk October 10, with the third set for October 18.

"The second and third spacewalks will be devoted to lubricating the newly installed end effector and replacing cameras on the left side of the station's truss and the right side of the station's US Destiny laboratory," NASA said.

Source: Robo Daily.
Link: http://www.robodaily.com/reports/US_spacewalkers_repair_aging_ISS_robotic_arm_999.html.

Three astronauts blast off for five-month ISS mission

By Kirill Kudryavtsev
Baikonur, Kazakhstan (AFP)
Sept 12, 2017

Two US astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut blasted off for the International Space Station in a nighttime launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Wednesday, heading for a five-month mission.

The Soyuz MS-06 rocket carrying Alexander Misurkin of the Russia's Roscosmos space agency, NASA first-time flyer Mark Vande Hei and his veteran colleague Joe Acaba launched as scheduled at 3:17 am (2117 GMT), according to images broadcast live by Roscosmos.

After a roughly six-hour flight, the spacecraft is expected to dock at around 0300 GMT on Wednesday, where the astronauts will join Paolo Nespoli of Italy, Sergey Riazanski of Russia and Randy Bresnik of the US.

The launch marks the first time two US astronauts have blasted off together on a mission to the ISS from Russia's Baikonur since June 2010.

The American space agency stopped its own manned launches to the ISS in 2011 but recently moved to increase its crew complement aboard the orbital lab as the Russians cut theirs in a cost-saving measure announced last year.

Acaba, 50, has spent nearly 138 days in space over two missions, while Vande Hei, 50, served with the US army in Iraq before training as an astronaut.

Misurkin, 39, who is beginning his second mission aboard the ISS, also has a military background.

Speaking at the pre-launch news conference on Monday, Acaba, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, said he would be taking some "musica Latina" on board to lift his crewmates' spirits.

"I can guarantee my crewmates they will not fall asleep during that music and if you want to dance at about 3 am tuned into our Soyuz capsule I think you'll enjoy it," he told journalists.

- 'Praying for people' -

The launch has been overshadowed by deadly storms that have battered the Caribbean and the southern half of the United States.

External cameras on the ISS captured footage of hurricane Irma last week brewing over the Atlantic as it prepared to wreak deadly havoc.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston said earlier this month it suffered "significant" damage during Hurricane Harvey, although Mission Control remained operational.

Vande Hei struck a somber note in a pre-launch tweet on Monday.

"L-2 days. Sunrise over Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Praying for the people of Florida as well as the continued recovery of the Texas Gulf Coast," he said.

Space is one of the few areas of international cooperation between Russia and the US that has not been wrecked by tensions over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The ISS orbits the Earth at a height of about 250 miles (400 kilometres), circling the planet every 90 minutes at a speed of about 17,500 miles (28,000 kilometres) per hour.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Three_astronauts_blast_off_for_five-month_ISS_mission_999.html.

Russian supply ship launched to International Space Station

February 22, 2017

MOSCOW (AP) — An unmanned Russian cargo ship lifted off successfully Wednesday on a supply mission to the International Space Station. A Soyuz-U booster rocket carrying the Progress MS-05 spacecraft blasted off as scheduled at 11:58 a.m. (0558 GMT) from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch complex in Kazakhstan.

The mission follows the Dec. 1 botched launch of the previous Progress ship, which crashed less than seven minutes after liftoff, spraying fiery debris over a sparsely populated area in southern Siberia near the border with Mongolia.

An official Russian investigation concluded that the failed launch was caused by a manufacturing flaw in the Soyuz booster's third-stage engine. Prior to Wednesday's launch, space officials ran rigorous checks of the engines already built and conducted a comprehensive scrutiny of manufacturing facilities.

The launch went ahead without a hitch and the spacecraft entered a designated preliminary orbit en route to the space outpost. It's set to dock at the station Friday. A Dragon supply ship launched Sunday by SpaceX is also set to arrive at the station this week. NASA said the Dragon spacecraft has waved off Wednesday's docking, adding that the Mission Control Center in Houston is evaluating the next attempt for rendezvous.

The station is currently inhabited by NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson, Andrei Borisenko, Sergei Ryzhikov and Oleg Novitskiy of Russia, and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

Space station receives oldest female astronaut, bit of Mars

November 20, 2016

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The International Space Station gained three new residents Saturday, including the oldest and most experienced woman to orbit the world. A bit of Mars also arrived, courtesy of a Frenchman who brought along a small piece of a Mars meteorite.

Launched Thursday from Kazakhstan, the Russian Soyuz capsule docked at the 250-mile-high outpost just an hour or two before NASA launched a weather satellite from Florida. The Soyuz delivered NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy. They joined three men already on board, one American and two Russians.

This is the third space station mission for Whitson, who at 56 is older than each of her crewmates. She already holds the record for most time in space for a woman: nearly 400 days during her various missions. By the time she returns next spring, she should break the record for any American, man or woman.

"We could not be more proud," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told Whitson once she entered the space station. He joined the new crew's family and friends at Russia's Mission Control outside Moscow to welcome the newcomers on board.

"I'm really happy to be here," Whitson replied. A biochemist by training, Whitson will celebrate her 57th birthday at the orbiting lab in February. Until Thursday, no woman older than 55 had flown in space.

Pesquet, meanwhile, is making his first spaceflight and Novitskiy his second. Before rocketing away, Pesquet told reporters he was taking up a piece of a Mars meteorite to illustrate the necessary union between human and robotic explorers. He intends to bring the stone back with him to Earth in six months. It then will launch aboard a Mars rover and return to its home planet.

"So it's going to be the most experienced space traveler there is in the world," Pesquet said Wednesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. "The idea is to show that space exploration is just the whole ... we're not competing against robotic exploration, we're all working together. What we do on the (space station) is just one step on that road to exploration."

Sunday marks the 18th anniversary of the launch of the first space station piece. It's now as big as a football field, with a mass of 1 million pounds and eight miles of electrical wiring. Whitson and company represent its 50th full-time expedition.

"So we can celebrate the station's birthday today," said Sergei Krikalev, a cosmonaut-turned-space official who spoke from the Russian control center. "Good luck."

Japan Schedules Cargo Transporter Launch to ISS for December 9

Tokyo (Sputnik)
Oct 10, 2016

Japanese cargo spaceship KOUNOTORI6 is set to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 9, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Friday.

KOUNOTORI is an unmanned cargo transporter which will be launched with the H-IIB launch vehicle from Tanegashima Space Center.

It is designed to deliver up to 6 tons of food and clothes among other supplies.

Takuya Onishi, a Japanese astronaut who is currently at the ISS, is about to return to Earth at the end of October. He will be replaced by the Norishige Kanai in 2017.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Japan_Schedules_Cargo_Transporter_Launch_to_ISS_for_December_9_999.html.

Happy landings: 3 space station crew members back on Earth

September 07, 2016

After watching more than 2,750 sunrises from above the Earth, three crew members of the International Space Station returned to the planet for a sparkling sunrise back on Earth Wednesday. A record-setting American astronaut and his two Russian colleagues felt the sun beat down on them on a cloudless morning after a six-month trek in orbit.

NASA's Jeff Williams returned as the U.S. record holder for time in orbit, logging 534 days in space over four missions. Williams, Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka logged 72.8 million miles in space, circling the globe 2,752 times before landing on target in the south central steppes of Kazakhstan just 23 minutes after sunrise Wednesday, 7:13 a.m. local time (1:13 a.m. GMT).

Stretched out in chairs placed in the brown wild grass, the three flyers were all smiles, giving thumbs up, chatting on cell phones. They were promptly pulled out of the Russian Soyuz capsule, which landed on its side, which is not unusual. Williams wore a black baseball cap while seated outside and talking on the phone. Ovchinin clutched a stuffed doll his daughter gave him as a mascot that went into space with him.

They were then carried to a medical tent for routine tests to see how they adjust to gravity, including checking to see how they could stand. The trio undocked from the space station nearly three and a half hours before touchdown in hazy sunshine with a comfortable welcome home temperature around 66 degrees (19 degrees Celsius) about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. They landed thanks to a large orange and white parachute and last second engine firings. NASA spokesman Dan Huot called it a "picturesque landing" on a picture-perfect day.

The three conducted experiments aboard the space station. Williams set the U.S. record last month for most time spent in space. He beat the previous record set by Scott Kelly during his year in orbit. The capsule contained air samples returned from the first inflatable module deployed in orbit.

The world record is held by Russian Gennady Padalka at 879 days in space. Thirteen Russians have more time in space than Williams. "Everything went very smoothly, very normally," NASA spokesman Rob Navias said.

US astronauts complete spacewalk for ISS maintenance

Washington (AFP)
Sept 1, 2016

Two US astronauts aboard the International Space Station successfully completed a spacewalk Thursday to make repairs and install new equipment.

"NASA astronauts completed all planned tasks + a few extra," the US space agency said on Twitter.

Americans Jeff Williams, 58, and Kate Rubins, 37, completed their mission at 1841 GMT after six hours and 48 minutes in space.

It was their first time in space in nearly two weeks. At that time, they attached an international docking adapter in anticipation of increased private spaceship traffic.

This time, Williams and Rubins retracted one of the thermal radiators outside the space station. Astronauts unsuccessfully tried to push it back into position last year.

They also "installed two enhanced high definition cameras on the station's truss and tightened bolts on a joint that enables one of the station's solar arrays to rotate," NASA said.

The cameras will be used to monitor spaceships transporting freight and astronauts.

The mission was the 195th spacewalk undertaken to build and maintain the ISS.

It was the fifth spacewalk for Williams, a veteran astronaut who on August 19 surpassed US astronaut Scott Kelly's record for the most cumulative days in space for an American.

Kelly has 520 days in space over his career.

Williams will have 534 days in space by the time he wraps up his stint at the ISS and returns to Earth next week.

It was the second spacewalk for Rubins. She is the 12th woman to walk in space.

In their August 19 spacewalk, Williams and Rubins installed a special parking spot on the ISS and connected power and data cables for the docking adapter.

The fittings will enable the space station to share power and data with visiting spaceships.

NASA describes the docking adapter as a "metaphorical gateway to a future" that will allow a new generation of US spacecraft -- the first since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 -- to carry astronauts to the space station.

The second docking adapter is expected to be launched in late 2017.

The adapters will work with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon, two spaceships under construction that are planned to ferry astronauts to the space station.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/US_astronauts_complete_spacewalk_for_ISS_maintenance_999.html.

US astronauts prepare spacewalk to install new docking port

By Kerry Sheridan
Miami (AFP)
Aug 19, 2016

With more private spaceship traffic expected at the International Space Station in the coming years, two US astronauts are set to embark on a spacewalk Friday to install a special parking spot for them.

Americans Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins will step outside the orbiting laboratory to attach an international docking adapter launched aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship last month.

NASA describes the equipment as "a metaphorical gateway to a future" that will allow a new generation of US spacecraft -- the first since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 -- to carry astronauts to the space station.

The docking adapter will be the first of two such additions to the space station. The second is expected to be shipped in 2018.

ISS operations integration manager Kenneth Todd called the installation a "very significant milestone on the path to establishing commercial crew capability."

Built by Boeing, the circular adapter measures around 42 inches (one meter) tall and about 63 inches (1.6 meters) wide.

The adapters will work with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon, two spaceships under construction that are planned to ferry astronauts to the space station.

The docking adapter is more sophisticated than past equipment because it will allow automatic parking instead of the current grapple and berthing process managed by astronauts.

It also has fittings that will enable the space station to share power and data with the spacecraft.

- Early morning start -

The spacewalk is set to start at 8:05 am (1205 GMT) with veteran NASA astronaut Williams emerging from the space station airlock on his fourth career spacewalk.

Flight engineer Rubins will be making her first venture outside the ISS.

But the work will be hardly brand new for her. She has already practiced the necessary maneuvers, including mating the cables, in NASA's neutral buoyancy laboratory in Houston.

A series of spacewalks last year have helped prepare the groundwork for the adapter's arrival.

The space station's robotic arm pulled the docking adapter from the trunk of the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship on Wednesday, placing it inches away from the station's Harmony module, where it will be installed.

Once the spacewalkers -- also known as extravehicular (EV) crew -- are outside the space station, an extension of the Canadarm2 robotic arm, called the "Dextre" Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), will push the bulky adapter even closer to its installation point.

The plan is for the robotic manipulator to push the adapter into place so the astronauts will have only to tether it.

The operation will remain delicate, however, because the SPDM is highly sensitive to external pressure, lead spacewalk officer Glenda Brown said.

"This is the first time that the EV crew members have actually taken a handoff from the SPDM," she told a news conference this week.

"We have to be very careful about putting loads into the SPDM," she added.

"In space, it has got a lot of capability, but on the ground it can barely support its own weight."

- Second spacewalk planned -

NASA is planning a second spacewalk on September 1 for a separate operation to retract one of the thermal radiators outside the space station.

Astronauts unsuccessfully tried to push it back into position last year, Todd said.

"We will go back here in a couple of weeks and restow that guy for its final time."

However, a problem with an American spacesuit that appeared to allow water to build up inside an astronaut's helmet in January has been resolved, he added.

Tests on the suit back on Earth showed an apparent flaw in a piece of hardware called a sublimator, which manages condensation in the suit's heating and cooling loops.

Although it worked well in simulation tests, a blockage in a secondary set of holes might still react differently in zero gravity, Todd said.

The issue was not as severe as a spacesuit breakdown in 2013 that flooded Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano's helmet, forcing him to end his spacewalk early, he added.

NASA has been using the same spacesuits for some 30 years, continuing to study what makes them work and fail, Todd said.

"We are still learning how to use this suit and how to care for them in a zero-gravity environment -- and it is not the same as what we do on the ground."

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/US_astronauts_prepare_spacewalk_to_install_new_docking_port_999.html.

NASA taking another stab at inflating space station room

May 27, 2016

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is taking a second crack at inflating an experimental room at the International Space Station. Flight controllers, along with the astronauts, will try again Saturday to expand the world's first soft-sided compartment for space travelers. Thursday's effort was halted after the pod barely grew in size when air was let in.

Officials told reporters Friday that friction among the compressed fabric layers likely kept the chamber from expanding to its full 13 feet in length and 10 ½ feet in diameter. In fact, the pod — called BEAM for Bigelow Expandable Activity Module — only swelled a few inches beyond its packed 7 feet in length and 8 feet in diameter. Overnight, it expanded slightly more.

BEAM was launched by SpaceX in April following months of rocket delays and attached to the outside of the station. Because of the postponement, the pod was packed up tight longer than anticipated. NASA relieved some of the pressure inside BEAM on Friday to relax the materials and, hopefully, allow the chamber to expand more easily on the next go-around.

Bigelow Aerospace is behind the technology demonstration. The Nevada company envisions using inflatable spacecraft to house tourists orbiting Earth — founder Robert Bigelow is in the hotel business, after all — as well as astronauts bound for Mars.

Because this has never been done before at a space station, NASA is proceeding slowly and methodically to inflate the room, said mission operations manager Kenny Todd. If too much force was exerted by BEAM on the space station — say by a rapid pressurization — the connecting modules could be weakened.

"To be honest with you, it doesn't surprise me a great deal that we ended up here," Todd said, given the conservative approach. There is no hurry to inflate BEAM, Todd stressed, and it poses no safety hazard to either the space station or its six-man crew. BEAM is supposed to remain at the orbiting outpost for two years, with astronauts only occasionally ducking inside. Sensors will measure temperature and radiation levels, as well as possible impacts by space debris.

Alexander Gerst to be Space Station commander

Paris (ESA)
May 20, 2016

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst has been assigned a new mission to the International Space Station, where he will fulfill the role of commander during the second part of his six-month mission in 2018.

The news was announced in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel by ESA Director General Jan Woerner at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany. Alexander worked on the Station for six months on his Blue Dot mission in 2014. The German astronaut commented:

"I am humbled by receiving the honor to command the International Space Station. This international sign of trust reflects ESA's reliability as a cooperation partner, and was made possible by the fantastic work of my European colleagues on their previous missions. I am delighted by the prospect of continuing the scientific work that has been conducted on the ISS for many years. I am particularly looking forward to contributing to one of humanity's greatest exploration adventures: discovering new horizons.

Eleven European countries participate in the Station through ESA together with USA, Russia, Japan and Canada. ESA astronaut Tim Peake is currently working on the Station, to be followed by Thomas Pesquet in November.

Alexander's mission will continue the program of research that often spans multiple missions. His second flight will likely see Alexander working with ESA's Mares muscle measurement machine, researching plasma crystals in weightlessness, and testing new technologies to support ESA's human exploration program, in addition to the experiments of Station partners.

This is the second time a European astronaut will be commander of the Station in the 15 years it has been occupied - the first was Frank De Winne in 2009. Now heading the European Astronaut Center, Frank noted, "Alexander showed outstanding performance, high professionalism and excellent interaction skills during his Blue Dot mission.

"For these reasons, the European Astronaut Center proposed to the international partners that Alexander be the commander of the Space Station."

Alexander's second mission will run from May to November 2018 as part of Expeditions 56 and 57. He will be commander during the second part of his stay, during Expedition 57.

Alexander joined the ESA astronaut corps in 2009 and was assigned his first mission in 2011. He was awarded Germany's Order of Merit on return from his 166 days in space in 2014.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Alexander_Gerst_to_be_Space_Station_commander_999.html.

NASA, Space Station partners announce future mission crew members

Houston TX (SPX)
May 10, 2016

NASA and its International Space Station partners have announced the crew members for missions to the orbiting laboratory in 2017. The selection includes first-time space flyer NASA astronaut Scott Tingle and veteran Randy Bresnik.

"There's so much going on aboard the space station at this point, so many science experiments and technology demonstrations," said Chris Cassidy, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Scott and Randy have their work cut out for them, but I have no doubt they'll do excellent jobs."

Tingle is a member of NASA's 2009 astronaut class and will fly with cosmonauts Ivan Vagner, who is also a first-time flier, and veteran Alexander Skvortsov, both of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. They will launch in September 2017. The three will join the station's Expedition 53 crew of NASA astronaut Jack Fischer, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Paolo Nespoli and Roscosmos cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.

Tingle, a captain in the U.S. Navy, was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, but considers Randolph, Massachusetts, his home. He was commissioned as a naval officer in 1991 and earned the gold wings of a naval aviator in 1993. He has accumulated more than 4,000 hours in 48 types of aircraft, 700 carrier landings and 54 combat missions.

Tingle earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Southern Massachusetts University in Dartmouth in 1987, and a master's degree in mechanical engineering, with a specialty in fluid mechanics and propulsion, from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, in 1988. He also is a 1998 graduate of the Navy Test Pilot School.

Bresnik's mission will begin in November 2017, when he and his crewmates Sergey Ryazansky of Roscosmos and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will join Tingle, Skvortsov and Vagner on the station for Expedition 54.

Bresnik, who considers Santa Monica, California, to be his hometown, is a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps. Bresnik received his commission in May 1989 and was designated a Marine Corps aviator in 1992. He flew the F/A-18 Hornet in support of Operation Southern Watch and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has accumulated more than 6,000 hours in 81 types of aircraft.

Bresnik was selected as an astronaut in May 2004. His first spaceflight was in November 2009 aboard space shuttle Atlantis for STS-129, which lasted 11 days. The flight was the 31st shuttle flight to the space station, during which Bresnik conducted two spacewalks totaling 11 hours and 50 minutes.

Bresnik graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, and earned a master's degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2002. He is also a 2008 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Air War College.

The crew comprising Expedition 53 will be:
+ Jack Fischer, NASA
+ Paolo Nespoli, ESA
+ Fyodor Yurchikin, Roscosmos
+ Scott Tingle, NASA
+ Alexander Skvortsov, Roscosmos
+ Ivan Vagner, Roscosmos

The crew comprising Expedition 54 will be:
+ Scott Tingle, NASA
+ Alexander Skvortsov, Roscosmos
+ Ivan Vagner, Roscosmos
+ Randy Bresnik, NASA
+ Sergey Ryazansky, Roscosmos
+ Norishige Kanai, JAXA

The space station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that enables us to demonstrate new technologies and make research breakthroughs not possible on Earth.

It has been continuously occupied since November 2000 and, since then, has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next giant leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Space_Station_partners_announce_future_mission_crew_members_999.html.

NASA to attach, test first expandable habitat on ISS

Houston TX (SPX)
Apr 13, 2016

The first human-rated expandable structure that may help inform the design of deep space habitats is set to be installed to the International Space Station Saturday, April 16. NASA Television coverage of the installation will begin at 5:30 a.m. EDT.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) will be attached to the station's Tranquility module over a period of about four hours. Controllers in mission control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will remove BEAM from the unpressurized trunk of SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, using the robotic Canadarm2, and move it into position next to Tranquility's aft assembly port. NASA astronauts aboard the station will secure BEAM using common berthing mechanism controls. Robotic operations begin at 2:15 a.m. and are expected to be complete by 6:15 a.m.

BEAM launched aboard Dragon on April 8 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. At the end of May, the module will be expanded to nearly five times its compressed size of 7 feet in diameter by 8 feet in length to roughly 10 feet in diameter and 13 feet in length.

Astronauts will first enter the habitat about a week after expansion and, during a two-year test mission, will return to the module for a few hours several times a year to retrieve sensor data and assess conditions.

Expandable habitats are designed to take up less room on a rocket, but provide greater volume for living and working in space once expanded. This first test of an expandable module will allow investigators to gauge how well the habitat performs overall and, specifically, how well it protects against solar radiation, space debris and the temperature extremes of space. Once the test period is over, BEAM will be released from the space station, and will burn up during its descent through Earth's atmosphere.

BEAM is an example of NASA's increased commitment to partnering with industry to enable the growth of the commercial use of space. The BEAM project is co-sponsored by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Division and Bigelow Aerospace.

The International Space Station serves as the world's leading laboratory for conducting cutting-edge microgravity research and is the primary platform for technology development and testing in space to enable human and robotic exploration of destinations beyond low-Earth orbit, including asteroids and Mars.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_to_attach_test_first_expandable_habitat_on_ISS_999.html.

SpaceX cargo arrives at crowded space station

By Kerry Sheridan
Miami (AFP)
April 10, 2016

SpaceX's unmanned Dragon cargo ship, carrying lettuce seeds, lab mice and an inflatable pop-up room, arrived Sunday at a crowded International Space Station where six spacecraft are now docked.

British astronaut Tim Peake reached out with the station's robotic arm and grappled the Dragon, carrying its nearly 7,000 pounds (3,175 kilograms) of gear, at 7:23 am (1123 GMT).

"We show load is safe, and it looks like we've caught a Dragon," said Peake.

Four Russian spaceships -- two Progress cargo carriers and two Soyuz capsules which ferry astronauts -- are docked at the space station, along with Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo ship and SpaceX's Dragon.

Not since 2011, during the final flight of the space shuttle Discovery, have there been six vehicles parked at the ISS at the same time, NASA said.

Included in the Dragon's cargo is an expandable room that will be temporarily attached to the orbiting outpost.

Known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the habitat is not scheduled for use until the end of May, but will stay at the ISS for two years so astronauts can test how it stands up to space debris and solar radiation.

The module can expand to about 10 feet (three meters) in diameter by 13 feet (four meters) long.

Astronauts plan to enter the room "for a few hours several times a year to retrieve sensor data and assess conditions," NASA said.

The cargo also contains Chinese cabbage seeds which astronauts will grow in space, and lab mice that will test whether certain drugs can help prevent muscle and bone loss in microgravity.

SpaceX's Dragon is currently the only spaceship capable of returning cargo to Earth.

It is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean on May 11, carrying science experiments including biological samples from astronaut Scott Kelly's one-year mission which ended in March.

- Landing success -

The Dragon blasted off on Friday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

Minutes after launch, the first stage portion of the Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.

The feat was hailed as a big step forward for SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's mission to make rockets as reusable as airplanes, an innovation that he says will bring down the cost of spaceflight.

Currently, sophisticated rocket parts costing tens of millions of dollars are jettisoned into the sea after launch.

Blue Origin, headed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has also managed to land its rockets on solid ground after launch, but these flights have been suborbital and did not fly to the same heights -- or travel as fast -- as SpaceX's Falcon 9.

Musk said about half of the time, the Falcon 9 rocket will need to return to the ocean, so perfecting the technique of touching down on a floating platform is important.

US President Barack Obama congratulated SpaceX for landing its rocket at sea.

"It's because of innovators like you & NASA that America continues to lead in space exploration," Obama said on Twitter.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SpaceX_cargo_arrives_at_crowded_space_station_999.html.

Cygnus Set to Deliver Its Largest Load of Station Science, Cargo

by Steven Siceloff for KSC News
Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX)
Mar 22, 2016

A new 3D printer and research projects examining everything from adhesive technologies to the behavior of large fires in space are packed inside an Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft for launch Tuesday, March 22, at 11:05 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window extends for 30 minutes.

Launching atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, the Cygnus, which carries no crew, will steer itself to the station during the course of three days. Astronauts and ground controllers will use the station's robotic arm to grapple Cygnus and connect it to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module. Cygnus will stay connected to the Earth-facing laboratory for about two months before being released to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

Much of the science will be conducted by astronauts aboard the International Space Station as they continue landmark research above Earth for the benefit of those on the Earth and future astronauts making the journey to Mars. Other science, such as the fire research and reentry data collection, will be conducted at the end of the mission and only after Cygnus drops off its materials and is flying on its own far from the station.

Named the S.S. Rick Husband in tribute to the astronaut who commanded the STS-107 mission which was lost Feb. 1, 2003, this will be the second flight of an enhanced version of Cygnus which first flew in December on a successful return to the flight for the company. Able to carry about 25 percent more volume than its predecessor, the enhanced models also feature more efficient solar arrays and other upgraded systems.

While docked to the station, Cygnus will be unloaded by astronauts who will set up the experiments and stow the fresh supplies. Altogether, the mission's cargo manifest totals more than 3 0.5 tons, including experiments by government and private researchers. Two expeditions - 47 and 48 - will conduct the research in NASA's continuing drive to unlock the secrets of long-duration space exploration.

"It's like Christmas when a supply craft arrives," said Orbital ATK's Dan Tani, a former shuttle and station astronaut who is now senior director of mission cargo and operations. "It's always fun to watch another vehicle approach and then it's like opening a box of goodies and finding some stuff you've been wanting and some surprises you didn't know about."

This Cygnus will carry more to the station than any of the previous five missions, Tani said.

A few of the scientific highlights:

- Gecko Gripper, testing a mechanism similar to the tiny hairs on geckos' feet that lets them stick to surfaces using an adhesive that doesn't wear off,

- Strata-1, designed to evaluate how soil on small, airless bodies such as asteroids behaves in microgravity.

- Meteor, an instrument to evaluate from space the chemical composition of meteors entering Earth's atmosphere. The instrument is being re-flown following its loss on earlier supply missions.

- Saffire, which will set a large fire inside the Cygnus in an unprecedented study to see how large fires behave in space. The research is vital to selecting systems and designing procedures future crews of long-duration missions can use for fighting fires.

- Cygnus is carrying more than two dozen nanosatellites that will be ejected from either the spacecraft or the station at various times during the mission to evaluate a range of technology and science including Earth observations.

The station residents depend on cargo missions from Earth to supply them with daily clothes, food, water and air, along with the equipment they need to work in orbit. For instance, this mission is carrying a spacesuit for the crew and high-pressure cylinders to recharge the station's air supply.

As the Cygnus approaches the end of its time connected to the station, astronauts will pack it with trash, spent experiments and other equipment no longer needed. It will all burn up as the spacecraft blazes through the atmosphere to end the flight with a safe impact in the Pacific Ocean.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Cygnus_Set_to_Deliver_Its_Largest_Load_of_Station_Science_Cargo_999.html.