Archivo de la etiqueta: International Space Station

Crew Waits for Dragon While Getting Used to Space and Working Science

The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft will attempt another launch atop the Falcon 9 rocket today at 6:01 p.m. EDT. If the weather cooperates for a liftoff from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Dragon will arrive at the International Space Station on Saturday at 10 a.m. with over 5,000 pounds of cargo for the Expedition 60 crew.

Less than a week into their mission, astronauts Drew Morgan and Luca Parmitano are exploring how living in space impacts their visual perception and spatial orientation. The duo took turns wearing virtual reality goggles today testing how they evaluate motion and distance while free-floating.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague, who have been in space since March, split their schedule today between science and maintenance work. Koch set up cameras in the Columbus lab module to record Morgan and Parmitano during their experiment work. She then measured airflow throughout the station’s U.S. segment.

Hague started his day on plumbing replacing urine-recycling tanks in the Tranquility module. In the afternoon, he stowed algae samples into a science freezer and serviced a 360-degree camera that records cinematic, virtual reality experiences for audiences on Earth.

Cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Alexander Skvortsov researched cardiac activity in the station’s Russian segment this morning. Afterward, Commander Ovchinin worked on communications gear before moving on to a space physics experiment. Skvortsov continued unloading the Soyuz MS-13 crew ship and updating the station’s inventory system.

All six crewmates started Thursday morning measuring their body mass. A device applies a known force to a crewmember with the resulting acceleration providing an accurate value of their body mass in microgravity. The mass measurement principle is based on Newton’s Second Law of Motion stating that force equals mass times acceleration.

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

Powered by WPeMatico

Dragon Targets Launch Today as Science Ramps Up Aboard Busy Station

Forecasters predict a 30% chance of favorable weather today for the liftoff of a U.S. cargo craft at 6:24 p.m. EDT from Florida. Mission managers are getting ready to launch the SpaceX Dragon loaded with new science experiments and the International Docking Adapter-3.

Dragon is planned to arrive at the orbiting lab Friday at 10 a.m. NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch will be on duty in the cupola to command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture Dragon.

Meanwhile on the International Space Station, the expanded Expedition 60 crew stepped up their science activities with virtual reality filming, free-flying robotics tests and RNA sequencing.

New crewmember Drew Morgan of NASA filmed himself today with a 360-degree camera inside the Harmony module. Morgan talked into the camera, as have previous station residents, describing his experience adapting to life in microgravity for the first time. Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency set up the camera this morning to record the virtual reality experience for audiences on Earth.

Morgan and Parmitano along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov are still getting up to speed with life on the orbiting laboratory. The crewmates have been in space less than a week and are familiarizing themselves with safety procedures and the station’s galley, crew quarters, medicine cabinet and toilet.

NASA Flight Engineer Christina Koch split her time today between robotics and RNA sequencing. She set up the Astrobee robotic helper in the morning testing and calibrating its free-flying motion. In the afternoon, Koch inserted RNA samples from a science freezer into the Biomolecule Sequencer to study how the space environment affects biology.

Flight Engineer Nick Hague inspected the U.S. Destiny laboratory’s large viewing window today. He photographed and checked the window used for Earth observation studies for cracks, scratches and contamination.

Cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Alexander Skvortsov focused on configuring the recently arrived Soyuz MS-13 crew ship docked to the Zvezda service module. The veteran station residents also tested an automated rendezvous system ahead of the launch of a new Progress 73 cargo craft planned for July 31.

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

Powered by WPeMatico

Astronauts Relaxing Ahead of U.S. Cargo Mission

A quartet of Expedition 60 astronauts are relaxing today ahead of planned operations to receive a new space freighter on Friday. Meanwhile, a pair of cosmonauts checked Soyuz spacecraft systems and collected air samples aboard the International Space Station.

SpaceX is targeting Wednesday at 6:24 p.m. EDT for the launch of its Dragon cargo craft to resupply the station. Meteorologists, however, predict a 30% chance of favorable weather for a liftoff at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

An on time launch Wednesday would see Dragon arriving at the station early Friday packed with new science experiments and a new International Docking Adapter-3. NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch will be on duty in the cupola to command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture Dragon at 7 a.m., while Flight Engineer Drew Morgan monitors the cargo craft’s telemetry as it approaches the orbiting lab.

The station’s newest arrivals including Morgan, Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos are getting up to speed with station systems today. They are orienting themselves in microgravity, while conducting science and maintenance operations aboard the lab.

Station Commander Alexey Ovchinin checked the air quality over in the Russian side of the station. Skvortsov checked the hatch seal and recharged batteries in the new Soyuz MS-13 crew ship docked to the Zvezda service module.

Towards the end of the day, the entire six-member crew gathered for about an hour to review their roles and responsibilities in the event of an emergency. The four astronauts and two cosmonauts reviewed procedures, safety gear and escape paths for unlikely emergency scenarios such as a fire or a pressure leak aboard the station.

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

Powered by WPeMatico

Fully Staffed Station Crew Kicks off Busy Week Waiting for Dragon

SpaceX is targeting Wednesday at 6:24 p.m. EDT for the launch of its 18^th contracted Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station. This will be the third flight of this particular reusable Dragon space freighter atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

The Expedition 60 crew is now fully staffed with three new flight engineers, who arrived Saturday aboard the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft, expanding the station inhabitants to six.  Drew Morgan of NASA, Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos are getting used to their new home in space and working to get the orbiting lab up to full speed.

Morgan will be on Dragon duty Friday morning, monitoring its approach to the station. NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch will capture the commercial cargo craft around 7 a.m. with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Dragon is delivering a variety of research gear supporting human health and the International Docking Adapter-3 (IDA-3) for commercial vehicles from Boeing and SpaceX.

Station managers are planning a spacewalk to complete the installation of the IDA-3 on the space-facing side of the Harmony module. Parmitano, Hague and Koch teamed up Monday to service U.S. spacesuits ahead of the upcoming spacewalk.

Cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Skvortsov focused on science and maintenance in the Russian segment of the space station. Ovchinin photographed the condition of the Zvezda service module docking port and checked radiation readings. Skvortsov, now on his third station mission, inventoried gear delivered aboard the new Soyuz crew ship.

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

Powered by WPeMatico

Hatches Open, Expedition 60 Crew at Full Staff

NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos joined Expedition 60 Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch aboard the International Space Station when the hatches between the Soyuz spacecraft and the orbiting laboratory officially opened at 9:04 p.m. EDT.

The arrival restores the station’s crew complement to six. 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.

One of those key technology developments will be the arrival and installation of the second docking port for commercial crew spacecraft – SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner. International Docking Adapter-3 (IDA-3) is set to launch to the station on SpaceX Dragon’s 18th commercial resupply services mission.

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.

Parmitano and Skvortsov are scheduled to remain aboard the station with Koch until February 2020, leaving Morgan on station for an extended stay. Hague and Ovchinin are set to return to Earth on Oct. 3.

For continued 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.

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

Powered by WPeMatico