Blogs

The eruption of Alaska's Bogoslof volcano has changed the island's size and shape.

Exposed Facility Unit (EFU) Adapter Transfer: Ground Controllers maneuvered the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) and extracted the Small Fine Arm (SFA) from the SFA Storage Equipment (SSE). Overnight tonight the ground controllers will maneuver the SFA to grasp the EFU Adapter from the EFU-5 location.  Once the EFU Adapter has been …

Hugo Berthelot, biogeochemical oceanographer, is studying phytoplankton organisms and the biochemical processes they take part in.

Multi-Omics Collections: This morning the crew performed sampling in support of the JAXA Multi-Omics experiment. Various samples are collected and stowed in MELFI four times throughout the crew’s on-orbit duration in addition to a questionnaire and ingestion of fructooligosaccharide (FOS). The objective of Multi-Omics is to understand the gut ecosystem of astronauts in the space …

A pair of NASA astronauts on the International Space Station called down to Houston today as the city gets ready to host Super Bowl LI on Sunday. Johnson Space Center officials, media and visitors gathered at Space Center Houston to hear Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson and Commander Shane Kimbrough welcome everyone as NASA …

  It might seem unlikely that vegetation can survive in a sandy coastal environment that receives little rain, but plant communities along Peru’s southern coast have found a way. In December 2016, we published the top image showing a unique perspective of fog. From space, you can see the vast expanse of marine stratocumulus sweeping inland to fill some of Peru’s deep valleys. It is […]

64 Progress (64P) Undock: 64P successfully undocked from the Docking Compartment 1 (DC-1) port this morning at 8:25 AM CST. Deorbit burn was at 11:34 AM CST today followed by atmospheric entry and destruction. Crew Autonomous Scheduling Test (CAST): The third of five sessions was completed today.  The objective of this session was to allow …

The Russian 64 Progress cargo vehicle undocked from the Pirs docking compartment at 9:25 a.m. EST. The Russian Progress 64 arrived at the space station July 18, after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan July 17. After more than six months at the station, the spacecraft is scheduled to deorbit at 12:34 p.m. where …

When people think of science, the first examples that come to mind are often dramatic triumphs—the moon landing, the invention of DNA sequencing, or the discovery of the polio vaccine. Almost every exciting experimental result, however, is the result of an enormous amount of unseen effort. Thorough preparation, resourceful improvisation, success and failure, and improvement […]