This photographic illustration compares the size of Apollo 11 Landing Site 2 with that of the metropolitan New York City area.
NASA Image of the Day
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NASA will provide television, still image, and social media coverage of Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, July 20 – the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
NASA Breaking News
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A Soyuz rocket stands at its launch pad today at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan ready to launch three new flight engineers to the International Space Station on Saturday. NASA astronaut Drew Morgan will embark on his first space mission with veteran station residents Luca Parmitano and Alexander Skvortsov.
The Expedition 60-61 trio from the United States, Italy and Russia, is lifting off Saturday at 12:28 p.m. EDT aboard the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft. They will dock less than six-and-a-half hours later to the Zvezda service module 50 years to the day NASA first landed humans on the Moon.
About two-and-a-half hours later the Soyuz and station hatches will open and they will enter their new home in space. NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch and station Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos will greet their new crewmates then hold a ceremony with family, friends and mission officials on the ground.
NASA TV is broadcasting all the activities live with launch coverage beginning Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Docking coverage begins at 6 p.m. as the Soyuz begins its approach with the orbiting lab. Finally, NASA TV’s live coverage of the hatch opening and crew welcoming ceremony begins at 8 p.m.
Mark Garcia
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In this black and white infrared image, the Soyuz rocket is seen as it transported to the launch pad by train, Thursday, July 18, 2019 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
NASA Image of the Day
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Three Expedition 60 crewmates aboard the International Space Station spent the day servicing a variety of research hardware. Back on Earth, three different rockets are preparing to replenish the orbiting lab with a new crew and more science and supplies.
NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague have been working on an array of science gear today supporting numerous advanced microgravity experiments.
Koch installed the HERMES facility researching the dynamics of asteroid and planetary surfaces with no atmospheres. She then checked out the Photobioreactor that explores microalgae as a means to support hybrid life support systems.
Hague was over in the Kibo laboratory module this morning configuring backup software for the Japanese robotic arm that maneuvers external experiments. After lunch, Hague replaced gear inside the Combustion Integrated Rack to support safe flame and fuel research in space.
The orbiting laboratory is gearing up for a high traffic period at the end of July. Two new Russian spaceships and a U.S. cargo craft will be occupying three different ports bringing the station crew up to full speed.
Saturday will see the launch and arrival of three new Flight Engineers aboard the Soyuz MS-13 crew ship. Astronauts Drew Morgan and Luca Parmitano and cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov will lift off Saturday at 12:28 p.m. EDT from Kazakhstan and dock to the Zvezda service module at 6:50 p.m.
Next, the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship is scheduled to launch from Florida at Sunday at 7:35 p.m. Hague and Koch will be at the helm of the robotics workstation in the cupola to capture Dragon on Tuesday at 11 a.m. with the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
Finally, Russia’s Progress 73 (73P) space freighter will replace the Progress 72 when it departs the Pirs docking compartment July 29. The 73P is due to blast off July 31 on a short two-orbit trip before automatically docking to Pirs with food, fuel and supplies for the station inhabitants.
Mark Garcia
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