One of the greatest challenges of the fourth phase of Air-to-Air Background Oriented Schlieren flights, or AirBOS flight series was timing.
NASA Image of the Day
The three Expedition 58 crew members are back to normal operations today with the newest SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship integrated to the International Space Station. Dragon will leave the station Friday as the next crew prepares to launch on March 14.
Astronauts Anne McClain and David Saint-Jacques called down to mission controllers today to discuss Crew Dragon operations. The duo also linked up with SpaceX personnel throughout the United States describing life on orbit and their impressions of the new crew vehicle.
McClain started today resizing U.S. spacesuits ahead of a set of spacewalks planned for March and April. She later worked on life support systems and plumbing maintenance in the Unity and Tranquility modules.
Saint-Jacques collected station water samples for microbial analysis. He then inspected tethers the astronauts will use to stay attached to the station during the upcoming spacewalks.
Commander Oleg Kononenko replaced fuel bottles used during experiment operations inside the Combustion Integrated Rack. The veteran cosmonaut also explored low temperature gas mixtures for the Plasma Krysyall-4 experiment collaboration between Europe and Russia.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon undocks Friday at 2:31 a.m. EST. Splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean is scheduled around 8:45 a.m. EST. NASA TV will cover all the activities live after closing the hatch Thursday.
On the other side of the world in Kazakhstan, three new Expedition 59 crew members are in final training awaiting their launch to the station. Commander Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch are set to blastoff March 14 at 3:14 p.m. and dock less than six hours later to their new home in space.
Mark Garcia
Media accreditation is open for the launch of Northrop Grumman’s next delivery of NASA science investigations, supplies and equipment to the International Space Station on April 17.
NASA Breaking News
NASA invites media and social media to agency centers across the country Monday, March 11, to get an up-close look at America’s work to return astronauts to the Moon and on to Mars, following the delivery of President Trump’s fiscal year 2020 budget proposal to the U.S. Congress.
NASA Breaking News
«The dawn of a new era in human spaceflight,» wrote astronaut Anne McClain. McClain had an unparalleled view from orbit of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft as it approached the International Space Station for docking on Sunday, March 3, 2019.
NASA Image of the Day
