Archivo de la etiqueta: spacestation

SpaceX Dragon Docks to Station With Four Crew-10 Members

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, as the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the orbiting complex at 12:04 a.m. EDT, while the station was roughly 260 statute miles over the Atlantic Ocean.

Following Dragon’s link up to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module, the crew members aboard Dragon and the space station will begin conducting standard leak checks and pressurization between the spacecraft and the station in preparation for hatch opening scheduled for approximately 1:45 a.m. on Sunday.

Crew-10 will join the Expedition 72 crew of NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Don Petitt, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner. The number of crew aboard the space station will increase to 11 people before Crew-9 members Hague, Williams, Wilmore, and Gorbunov return to Earth following the crew handover period.

NASA’s live coverage continues on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Learn more about the mission by following the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

SpaceX Crew-10 Mission Approaching Station Now Live on NASA+

NASA’s live arrival coverage of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission is underway on NASA+ as NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov make their way to the International Space Station.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to dock at approximately 12:07 a.m. EDT Sunday, March 16. Dragon is designed to dock autonomously, but the crew aboard the spacecraft and the space station will monitor as it approaches and docks to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.

When the hatches open at about one hour and 45 minutes after docking, Crew-10 will join the Expedition 72 crew of NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Don Petitt, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Soon on NASA+: SpaceX Crew-10 Making Their Way to Station

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 crew members continue making their way to the International Space Station with docking now targeted about 12:07 a.m. EDT Sunday, March 16.

The agency’s live mission coverage will resume on NASA+ at 10:25 p.m. on Saturday as NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov begin their final approach to the orbital complex for a long-duration science mission.  

Dragon is designed to dock autonomously, but the crew aboard the spacecraft and the space station will monitor as it approaches and docks to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module. 

When the hatches open at about one hour and 45 minutes after docking, Crew-10 will join the Expedition 72 crew of NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Don Petitt, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov, Alexey Ovchinin, and Ivan Vagner. 

Learn more about the mission by following the commercial crew blog, @commercial_crew on X, and commercial crew on Facebook. 

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Station Crew Keeps Up Advanced Space Research, Waits for Crew-10 Mission

Expedition 72 will wait a couple of more days for the arrival of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission as support personnel work a ground issue at the launchpad. Meanwhile, the International Space Station stayed busy with host a microgravity research exploring robotics, combustion, and adaptation to weightlessness.

Crew-10 is now targeted to launch to the orbital outpost no earlier than 7:03 p.m. EDT on Friday. Engineers at Kennedy Space Center are investigating a hydraulic system issue with a ground support clamp arm for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at the launch pad. For an on-time launch, the Dragon crew spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov would dock to the orbital outpost’s Harmony module at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Space science kept the crew aboard the station busy on Thursday as the astronauts and cosmonauts explored a variety of microgravity phenomena benefitting humans living on and off the Earth.

NASA Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore activated an Astrobee robotic free-flyer in the Kibo laboratory module and outfitted the device with tentacle-like grippers. Next, Astrobee demonstrated autonomously detecting and grappling a “capture cube.” Results may enable future space systems to remove space debris and extend the life of satellites.

NASA Flight Engineers Suni Williams and Don Pettit spent their shift servicing gear for two different combustion experiments. Williams opened up the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace and exchanged samples in the research device that safely heats materials to extreme temperatures to observe their thermophysical properties. Pettit swapped samples and installed new hardware inside the Combustion Integrated Rack for an investigation to understand fire growth and material flammability in space to promote spacecraft fire safety.

NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague spent his day primarily on maintenance tasks inside the orbital outpost. Hague first measured the airflow coming from the ventilation system located in Harmony’s overhead crew quarters. He then spent the rest of the day inspecting and cleaning hatch seals throughout the space station’s U.S. segment.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Aleksandr Gorbunov and Ivan Vagner once again tested the lower body negative pressure suit that may help pull fluids from the upper body and counteract space-caused head and eye pressure. Vagner later studied how a crew member’s vision, balance, and spatial orientation adjusts to microgravity while attached to electrodes and wearing virtual reality goggles. Station Commander Alexey Ovchinin started his day servicing Roscosmos life support gear before continuing to check communications and power components on Orlan spacesuits.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Cardiovascular Health and Space Botany Day Before Crew-10 Launch

The Expedition 72 crew kept up its space research activities on Tuesday while also preparing to split up after the SpaceX Crew-10 mission arrives this week. Spacesuit checks and lab maintenance duties rounded out the day aboard the International Space Station as the orbital outpost reached a milestone 150,000 orbits around the Earth.

Doctors are researching the cardiovascular risk for astronauts living and working in space for long durations. One issue they are concerned about is aging-like changes seen in a crewmember’s arteries. The long-running Vascular Aging investigation looks at these space-caused symptoms to decrease the health risk for astronauts and treat aging conditions on Earth. NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Don Pettit kicked off their shift doing blood work for one portion of the study looking at glucose tolerance. Hague collected his blood samples and handed them over to Pettit who spun them in a centrifuge. Afterward, Hague inserted the blood specimens inside a science freezer then stowed the research hardware completing the experiment run.

Pettit, with help from NASA Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, also tended to Red Romaine lettuce plants growing inside the Advanced Plant Habitat as they both checked the temperature inside the space botany research device located in the Kibo laboratory module. The lettuce is growing for the Plant Habitat-07 study to learn how to grow crops on future space missions.

Wilmore earlier joined NASA astronaut Suni Williams and continued packing for their upcoming departure aboard the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft with Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. The quartet joined each other at the end of the day on Tuesday and inspected the pressure suits and communication gear they will wear during the return to Earth ending the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. The homebound foursome will begin its crew handover activities once Crew-10 joins the station crew later this week.

Crew-10 is targeted to lift off at 7:48 p.m. EDT on Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the orbiting lab. Commander Anne McClain will lead Pilot Nichole Ayers, both NASA astronauts, and Mission Specialists Takuya Onishi from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Kirill Peskov from Roscosmos aboard the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft. After docking to the Harmony module’s forward port, opening the hatch, and entering the station the Crew-10 members will become Expedition 72 flight engineers.

Gorbunov joined fellow Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner from Roscosmos and tried on a specialized suit that may prevent fluids from accumulating in a crew member’s upper body due to microgravity. The lower body negative pressure suit may help pull fluids from the upper body and counteract space-caused head and eye pressure. Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin spent his day in the Poisk module checking life support components on an Orlan spacesuit.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia