NASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX now is targeting 6:24 p.m. EDT Wednesday, July 24, for the launch of its 18th resupply mission to the International Space Station. Live coverage will begin on NASA Television and the agency’s website with prelaunch events Tuesday, July 23.
NASA Breaking News
Powered by WPeMatico
Vice President Mike Pence visited and gave remarks in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the agency’s Apollo 11 Moon landing and announce to America the completion of NASA’s Orion crew capsule for the first Artemis lunar mission.
NASA Breaking News
Powered by WPeMatico
Live launch coverage is underway on NASA Television and the agency’s website for the targeted lift off at 12:28 p.m. EDT (9:28 p.m. in Baikonur), of a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos will begin a six-hour journey to the International Space Station.
The three will join NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Christina Koch and Expedition 60 Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos. The crew members will continue important research experiments in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development.
This is the first spaceflight for Morgan, the second for Parmitano, and the third for Skvortsov.
For launch coverage and more information about the mission, visit: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/.
Get space station news, images and features via social media on Instagram at: @iss, ISS on Facebook, and on Twitter @Space_Station and @ISS_Research.
Mark Garcia
Powered by WPeMatico
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, teams are making final preparations for the launch of NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos to the International Space Station. Their journey to the station will begin with a lift off at 12:28 p.m. EDT Saturday (9:28 p.m. in Baikonur), 50 years to the day that astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped on the Moon in a giant leap for humanity.
Live launch coverage will begin Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
The three will join NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Christina Koch and Expedition 60 Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos.
The Expedition 60 crew will spend more than six months conducting about 250 science investigations in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences, and technology development. Work on the unique microgravity laboratory advances scientific knowledge and demonstrates new technologies, making research breakthroughs that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Some of the investigations they will conduct are sponsored by the U.S. National Laboratory on the space station, which Congress designated in 2005 to maximize its use for improving quality of life on Earth. Highlights of upcoming investigations the crew will facilitate on the orbiting laboratory in the unique microgravity environment include the growth of moss aboard the station, a platform to attempt successful printing of biological tissues and bio-mining in space.
Below is the crew’s launch timeline in EDT:
Saturday, July 20
3:28:21am 9:00 Crew wakeup at Cosmonaut Hotel
6:28:21am 6:00 Crew departs Cosmonaut Hotel
6:43:21am 5:45 Batteries installed in booster
7:13:21am 5:15 Crew arrives at Site 254
7:28:21am 5:00 Tanking begins
7:58:21am 4:30 Crew suit up
8:23:21am 4:05 Booster loaded with liquid Oxygen
8:58:21am 3:30 Crew meets family members on other side of the glass
9:23:21am 3:05 First and second stage oxygen fueling complete
9:28:21am 3:00 Crew walkout from 254 and boards bus for launch pad
9:33:21am 2:55 Crew departs for launch pad (Site 1)
9:53:21am 2:35 Crew arrives at launch pad (Site 1)
10:03:21am 2:25 Crew boards Soyuz; strapped in to the Descent module
10:53:21am 1:35 Descent module hardware tested
11:08:21am 1:20 Hatch closed; leak checks begin
11:28:21am 1:00 Launch vehicle control system prep; gyro activation
11:30:00am :58:21 NASA TV LAUNCH COVERAGE BEGINS
11:43:21am :45:00 Pad service structure components lowered
11:44:21am :44:00 Clamshell gantry service towers retracted
11:45:00am :43:21 NASA TV: Crew prelaunch activities B-roll played
11:51:21am :37:00 Suit leak checks begin; descent module testing complete
11:54:21am :34:00 Emergency escape system armed
12:13:21pm :15:00 Suit leak checks complete; escape system to auto
12:18:21pm :10:00 Gyros in flight readiness and recorders activated
12:21:21pm :07:00 Pre-launch operations complete
12:22:21pm :06:00 Launch countdown operations to auto; vehicle ready
12:23:21pm :05:00 Commander’s controls activated
12:23:53pm :04:28 ISS flies directly over the Baikonur Cosmodrome
12:24:21pm :04:00 Combustion chamber nitrogen purge
12:25:21pm :03:00 Propellant drainback
12:25:38pm :02:43 Booster propellant tank pressurization
12:26:51pm :01:30 Ground propellant feed terminated
12:27:21pm :01:00 Vehicle to internal power
12:27:46pm :00:35 First umbilical tower separates
Auto sequence start
12:27:51pm :00:30 Ground umbilical to third stage disconnected
12:28:06pm :00:15 Second umbilical tower separates
12:28:09pm :00:12 Launch command issued
Engine Start Sequence Begins
12:28:11pm :00:10 Engine turbo pumps at flight speed
12:28:16pm :00:05 Engines at maximum thrust
12:28:21pm :00:00 LAUNCH OF SOYUZ MS-13 TO THE ISS
12:37:06pm +8:45 3RD STAGE SHUTDOWN; SOYUZ ORBITAL INSERTION
For launch coverage and more information about the mission, visit: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/. Get space station news, images and features via social media on Instagram at: @iss, ISS on Facebook, and on Twitter @Space_Station and @ISS_Research.
Mark Garcia
Powered by WPeMatico
Three new Expedition 60 crewmembers are just one day away from launching and joining the space residents aboard the International Space Station. Meanwhile, the orbiting trio worked on space biology hardware today while their crewmates on Earth completed final launch preparations in Kazakhstan.
Two different life science facilities onboard the station are being serviced today to support upcoming research into microgravity’s effect on biological systems. NASA astronaut Nick Hague ensured the Cell Biology Experiment Facility is airtight to contain the high humidity necessary for the Space Moss botany study. NASA Flight Engineer Christina Koch set up power to the Life Science Glovebox for the Cell Science-02 healing and tissue regeneration experiment.
The duo handled a variety of other station tasks today, including Hague reconfiguring the Kibo laboratory module‘s robotic arm backup drive system and testing new station lights. Koch loaded new software on a science laptop computer then replaced components in the station’s restroom, the Waste and Hygiene Compartment.
Station Commander Alexey Ovchinin had a light duty day in space mostly cleaning station hardware in the Russian segment. In the evening, he joined both astronauts reviewing emergency procedures for the arrival of a new crew on Saturday.
NASA astronaut Drew Morgan is launching Saturday at 12:28 p.m. EDT inside the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft on his first space mission. He joins veteran station residents Luca Parmitano and Alexander Skvortsov for their historic mission lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They will dock to the space station’s Zvezda service module at 6:50 p.m. 50 years to the day Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first walked on the Moon.
Mark Garcia
Powered by WPeMatico
