Comentarios desactivados en Uncrewed Soyuz Undocked from Space Station
Uncrewed Soyuz Undocked from Space Station
The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft is pictured departing from the International Space Station on Friday, September 6, 2019.
While flying about 260 miles above the border between northeastern China and southeastern Russia, an uncrewed Russian Soyuz spacecraft undocked and departed from the International Space Station at 2:14 p.m. EDT.
The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft was attached to the station’s aft-facing port of the Zvezda service module for a two-week stay as part of its test flight. The Soyuz delivered 1,450 pounds of cargo to the Expedition 60 crew currently residing on the orbital outpost. Part of the cargo was a humanoid robot that was used for tests before being loaded back inside the Soyuz for its return to Earth.
The Soyuz will land back on Earth in south-central Kazakhstan at 5:34 p.m. (3:34 a.m. Kazakhstan time on Sept. 7), where Russian personnel will be standing by to recover the spacecraft for postflight analysis. NASA TV will not provide live coverage of landing. The mission’s completion will be reported on social media and the agency’s website.
Comentarios desactivados en NASA TV to Air Undocking of Uncrewed Soyuz
NASA TV to Air Undocking of Uncrewed Soyuz
The unpiloted Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station for an automated docking.
Beginning at 1:45 p.m. EDT Friday, NASA Television and the agency’s website will air the undocking and departure from the International Space Station of an uncrewed Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz MS-14 is scheduled to undock from the station’s aft-facing Zvezda module at 2:14 p.m.
The uncrewed Soyuz launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Aug. 21 on a test flight to validate the spacecraft’s compatibility with a Soyuz 2.1a booster rocket. The spacecraft arrived and docked to the station on Monday Aug. 26. The upgraded Soyuz spacecraft and the Soyuz booster will be used to transport crews to the International Space Station beginning in spring 2020.
Scientists with NASA’s Mars 2020 mission and the European-Russian ExoMars mission traveled to the Australian Outback to hone their research techniques.
NASA Television to Air Launch, Capture of Cargo Ship to Space Station
A Japanese cargo spacecraft loaded with more than four tons of supplies, spare parts and experiment hardware is scheduled to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan to the International Space Station at 5:33 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Sept. 10 (6:33 a.m. Sept. 11 in Japan).
Comentarios desactivados en Expedition 60 Studies the Keys to Survive and Thrive in Space
Expedition 60 Studies the Keys to Survive and Thrive in Space
The unpiloted Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft approaches the International Space Station for an automated docking. Credit: NASA TV
As the week near its close, the crew of Expedition 60 caught up on maintenance activities while also continuing science investigations integral for the future of space exploration to destinations further into the solar system.
ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano performed servicing to the EXPRESS Rack located in the Columbus lab of the International Space Station. The EXPRESS Rack is instrumental in supporting science experiments, providing structural interfaces for power, data, cooling water and more to facilitate investigations in microgravity.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan continued examinations for Fluid Shifts, conducting remotely guided ultrasounds to track the movement of fluids within the body. Spread out over several weeks, the various measurements investigate if long-duration spaceflight can cause severe and lasting physical damage to an astronaut’s eyes. Aboard the orbiting laboratory, a Lower Body Negative Pressure device is being evaluated as a possible intervention for any harmful effects.
Flight Engineer Christina Koch, meanwhile, spent time on Rodent Research habitat cleaning and feeding protocols. Such experiments, as a byproduct of learning how microgravity affects animals, provides relevant insight to human space exploration, basic biology and knowledge that can positively impact human health on Earth.
Crew members performed scheduled maintenance on the Space Moss investigation — a plant-growth experiment attached to the Cell Biology Experiment Facility incubator. Moss, tiny plants without roots, need only a small area to thrive, and thus have potential in space far beyond low-Earth orbit, like on future Moon or Martian bases.
The countdown is on for cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Alexey Ovchinin, who will wrap up packing the Soyuz MS-14 with gear before the spaceship returns to Earth Friday, Sept. 6. Viewers can watch NASA Television as it follows the undocking of the unpiloted vehicle, which begins at 1:45 p.m. EDT for a scheduled undocking at 2:14 p.m. The vehicle is anticipated to land at 5:34 p.m. in Kazakhstan, but with no NASA TV coverage.
