Crew Handover Conference: In preparation for 38 Soyuz (38S) arrival scheduled for March 26, Commander (CDR) Wakata and Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Mastracchio participated in a conference to pass on lessons learned to the 38S Crew. The purpose of this activity is to begin the handover process through videocons and data exchanges between the current crew …
The first launch weather forecast ahead of the SpaceX-3 cargo mission to the International Space Station sets out a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions at launch time, which remains 4:41 a.m. EDT. Thick clouds are seen as a potential obstacle according to the forecast. SpaceX-3 is the third commercial resupply mission to space station for SpaceX. …
How is your bracket looking after the opening round of Tournament Earth? Unsurprisingly, top seeds Global Toll of Particulate Pollution (56.2 percent of votes), Snow Across Great Britain (50.7 percent), and Liege at Night (54.7) all dispatched weaker opponents in the first round of competition. The notable exception among the top seeds was Air Quality […]
36 Soyuz (36S) Departure/Landing: Soyuz 36S undocked from the MRM2 zenith port bringing Commander (CDR) Kotov, Flight Engineer (FE)-2 Ryazanskiy and FE-3 Hopkins back to earth. The undock command, which initiated the opening of the Soyuz vehicle docking hooks was issued at 7:01pm CDT with physical separation occurring a minute and a half later. The …
Water Recovery System (WRS) Status: On February 24th, the Water Processor Assembly (WPA) had a fault due to a leak into the catalytic reactor. On Thursday, Hopkins and Mastracchio successfully R&Rd the catalytic reactor. WPA has since been activated and is processing nominally. On Board Training (OBT) Soyuz Descent: Commander (CDR) Kotov, Flight Engineer (FE-2) …
I hope your brackets are ready because polls for round one of Tournament Earth close today at 4 p.m EST/9 p.m. UTC. Second round voting will open on Monday at 9 a.m. EST/ 1 p.m. UTC). Also, stay tuned for occasional posts on Earth Matters with details about how images fared in the competition. The images […]
Water Recovery System (WRS) Catalytic Reactor Remove & Replace (R&R): On February 24th, the Water Processor Assembly (WPA) had a fault due to a leak into the catalytic reactor (approximately 1 liter of water). Today, Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Hopkins and FE-5 Mastracchio successfully R&Rd the catalytic reactor. In preparation for the R&R, Hopkins removed Treadmill …
Here’s a complete schedule of our coverage plans for the March 16 launch of SpaceX-3 to the International Space Station. Liftoff remains slated for 4:41 a.m. eastern time.
Water Recovery System (WRS) In-Flight Maintenance (IFM) Procedure Review: On February 25th, the Water Processor Assembly (WPA) had a fault due to a leak into catalytic reactor (approximately 1 liter of water). The catalytic reactor is scheduled to be removed and replaced (R&Rd) tomorrow. Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Hopkins and FE-5 Mastracchio conducted a procedures review …
