ENERGY (Astronaut’s Energy Requirements for Long-Term Space Flight): Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Parmitano began his diet protocol for a 10 day session of ESA’s ENERGY experiment. He also positioned an armband monitor on his right triceps, where it will be worn for the entire 10 day period. A loss in astronauts’ body mass is a common …
Cygnus Status: Following the completion of the Node 2 Vestibule outfitting activities yesterday, Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Parmitano and FE-6 Nyberg opened the Cygnus Hatch at 03:10am CDT today. The crew has since ingressed, photo documented cargo configuration, and started cargo transfer operations. Emergency Procedure Review: All six crewmembers took part in an onboard training session …
Cygnus Rendezvous, Capture, and Berth: On Saturday, Cygnus successfully completed an early Relative Global Positioning System (RGPS) PROX checkout and demonstrated the vehicle’s ability to rely on RGPS for targeting of the coelliptic transfer and approach initiation maneuvers. Phasing burns ADV1-3 were all completed nominally enabling successful demonstration of the Autonomous REA Maneuver objective, which …
Soyuz (36S): Launch and Docking: Flight Engineer (FE)-1 Kotov, FE-2 Ryazanskiy, and FE-3 Hopkins launched on 36S from the Baikonur, Kazahkstan Cosmodrome at 3:58pm CDT, 25 September. 36S performed a nominal four-orbit rendezvous then docked to the Mini-Research Module (MRM)-2 port at 9:45pm CDT, returning the ISS to a full 6-crew complement. Following hatch opening …
Cygnus Status: After discontinuing rendezvous attempts on Monday, Cygnus continues to phase away from ISS on a coelliptic trajectory. As of 10:00 a.m. CDT, Cygnus was trailing ISS 4 km above and 850 km behind. Uplink of the Relative Global Positioning System (RGPS) Software Patch and associated re-integration of the Cygnus Flight Computers is scheduled …
Cygnus Status: On Sunday, the joint operations teams discontinued the nominal rendezvous attempt with ISS when Cygnus’s Relative GPS (RGPS) System was unable to initialize. The problem stems from Cygnus GPS time reference not matching that of the JEM’s GPS time. The A3 DV burn which was scheduled to occur this morning at 7:29 a.m. CDT …
Cygnus Status: In preparation for Cygnus operations this weekend, the crew was scheduled for a half-duty day today. Cygnus systems continue to function nominally. The spacecraft performed its 4th planned phasing burn (DV-4) today at 1:11 p.m. CDT. NASA teams are reviewing the Demo 1 results this afternoon in preparation for Saturday’s ISS Mission Management …
Cygnus Status: Cygnus completed its far-field demonstrations today. Delivery of the data package for Demo 1 (Position and Attitude Control) to NASA has been delayed due to TDRS communications issues. However, is expected to be delivered to NASA this evening. Data packages for Demo 2a & 2b (Free Drift & Active Abort) were delivered to …
Cygnus Orbital Demo 1 (Orb-D1) Launch: Orbital’s Antares rocket successfully launched today from Launch Pad 0A at Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, at 9:58 CDT. The Cygnus spacecraft was successfully injected into orbit. The vehicle’s solar arrays deployed as expected. One issue ground teams are actively working is associated with the Cygnus communications system experiencing problems …
Advanced Colloids Experiment (ACE)-M-1: Today Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Nyberg mixed a sample in the 9th of 10 wells of the ACE-M-1 experiment in the Fluids Integrated Rack facility. ACE-M-1 is the first in a series of microscopic imaging investigations of materials which contain small colloidal particles which remain evenly dispersed and distributed within the material. …
