Blogs

I’m currently writing from Hangar AE, where it all happened. While we wait to make contact with all of the CYGNSS satellites after launch, I’m going to attempt some coherent thoughts about the past few days. You may already have been following what’s been going on since my last post, but I’ll give a brief […]

We have successfully contacted each of the 8 observatories on our first attempt. This bodes very well for their health and status, which is the next thing we will be carefully checking with the next contacts in the coming days. It is an amazingly rewarding feeling to spend such an intense and focused time working …

The eighth CYGNSS satellite was contacted at 3:30 p.m. EST through the Chile ground station — 100-percent success! Full constellation redundancy achieved.

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations: When trying to power up the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) Control Unit 2 (SACU2) the sequence aborted with the same signature as yesterday. When swapping Bus channels, the power up sequence completed. It was decided to call off the RapidScat activity and perform troubleshooting instead to better understand the …

CYGNSS satellite six was contacted at 3:01 p.m. EST, seven at 3:28 EST, both by the ground station in Chile. One more to go!

The fifth CYGNSS satellite was contacted at 1:53 p.m. EST — also at a Chile ground station. Three to go!

The fourth satellite was contacted at 1:48 p.m. EST through a ground station in Chile — four more to go!

The second satellite was contacted at 1:21 p.m. EST through our Hawaii ground station, the third at 1:24 p.m. Both are healthy. Five to go!

External and internal cargo is currently being unloaded from Japan’s sixth H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-6) to visit the International Space Station. The Expedition 50 commander also talked to students on Earth today and helped the rest of the crew with space research and orbital lab maintenance. Commander Shane Kimbrough continued unpacking gear and fresh food …