Blogs

The deployment of two Cubesats is on hold after they failed to eject a couple of weeks ago. Also, more spacesuit servicing and biomedical investigations took place today. The deployer mechanism that ejected 14 of 16 Cubesats is back inside the Kibo laboratory module’s airlock. Two of the Cubesats did not deploy due to a …

Observation Analysis of Smectic Islands in Space (OASIS) Sample Exchange:  Kononenko performed an OASIS sample exchange today, installing the third of four sample cartridges into the experiment hardware housed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG).  OASIS studies the unique behavior of liquid crystals in microgravity, including their overall motion and the merging of crystal layers …

When astronauts come home in Orion from deep-space missions, they’ll need a strategy for a safe and efficient exit. At NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, teams performed a series of tests Oct. 6-8 to evaluate the most efficient way for astronauts to get out of the spacecraft after …

Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The October 2015 puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what part of the world we are looking at, when the image was acquired, what the image shows, and why the scene is interesting. How to answer. Your answer can be a […]

The crew continued more biomedical studies today so scientists can learn how long-term missions affect humans in space. The International Space Station residents also reviewed procedures for a pair of upcoming spacewalks and conducted an emergency training session. Commander Scott Kelly joined his fellow One-Year crew member Mikhail Kornienko and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui for …

Ocular Health:  One year crewmembers Kelly and Kornienko initiated their Flight Day 210 Ocular Health testing by completing vision and tonometry tests and taking blood pressure measurements with the assistance of Yui.  The Ocular Health protocol calls for a systematic gathering of physiological data to characterize the risk of microgravity-induced visual impairment/intracranial pressure in ISS …

Orionid meteors appear every year around this time when Earth travels through an area of space littered with debris from Halley’s Comet. This year the peak will occur on the night of Wednesday, Oct. 21 into the morning of Thursday, Oct. 22. “The Orionids will probably show weak activity this year,” says Bill Cooke of the …

Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock Safing:  Today Kelly prepared the JEM Airlock for the return of NanoRack Cubesat Deployer 6 (NRCSD#6) from the exterior of the ISS to the JEM next week.  He pressurized the Airlock and performed a leak check.  Because Deployer #6 contains two unlaunched cubesats, he removed the Lamp Housing Assembly from …