The Expedition 49 trio orbiting Earth inside the International Space Station are less than two weeks away from welcoming three new crew members. As the station residents wait for the new arrivals, they continue conducting space science and maintaining station systems. Commander Anatoly Ivanishin with Flight Engineers Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi have been living …
NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) #9 Install: After extending the JEM Airlock (JEMAL) slide table into the cabin, FE-5 installed the NRCSD #9 quad-deployer onto the Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform Small Fine Arm Attachment Mechanism (MPEP/SAM) attachments this morning. The crew then retracted the slide table, closed the JEMAL hatch and depressurized the JEMAL in advance of …
A heavy-lift crane lowers the second half of the D-level work platforms, D north, for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, into position Sept. 9 for installation in High Bay 3 in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The platform will be installed on the north side of the …
We finally launched the ER-2 on its first science mission yesterday after two weeks waiting for fuel, parts and equipment. I got the privilege of sitting in the driver’s seat because Greg “Coach” Nelson got to deliver the jet from its last fuel stop in Recifé, Brazil. We’re the two ER-2 pilots here for ORACLES, […]
August 2016 was the warmest August in 136 years of modern record-keeping, according to a monthly analysis of global temperatures by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). Although the seasonal temperature cycle typically peaks in July, August 2016 wound up tied with July 2016 for the warmest month ever recorded. August 2016’s […]
Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) reconfiguration: FE-6 performed the teardown and removal of the Heart Cell payload from the MSG. Heart Cells was completed and returned to the ground on SpaceX-9. On Tuesday, the crew will install the Selectable Optical Diagnostics Instrument Experiment Diffusion Coefficient Mixture (SODI DCMix)-3 into the MSG work volume. The Heart Cell …
By Eric Lindstrom The beauty of sea and sky in the open ocean of the tropics is a wonder to behold. There seemingly are an infinite number of ways to mix the sun, clouds, water, wind, and stars into poetry and science. For today I choose only a tiny slice of this infinite variety: Today […]
EXpedite PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Rack 7 (ER7) and ER8 Locker Relocations: Following the recovery of ER7 capability yesterday, the crew relocated the two Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratories (SABLs) currently in ER8 to ER7 to make room for the SpaceX-9 delivered Phase Change Heat Exchanger (PCHx) which will be installed next week. …
By Eric Lindstrom SPURS-2 is basic research seeking to improve our fundamental understanding of the surface salinity of the ocean. How does the salt content of the top layer of the ocean vary, and why? However, the question of today’s blog is: How should such work be supported? While NASA is the prime investor in […]
