Blogs

Since the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion arrived back at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 2, teams extended the access platforms surrounding the rocket and spacecraft to perform repairs and conduct final operations before returning to launch pad 39B for the Artemis I mission.   Technicians …

Artificial intelligence, hearing tests, and a microscope setup topped the research agenda aboard the International Space Station on Friday. The seven Expedition 67 crew members also divided their day with ongoing spacewalk preparations, training video recording, and orbital plumbing duties. The astronauts have been exploring space manufacturing techniques to take advantage of the weightless environment …

Payloads: Grip: The crew performed the third and final day of the experiment session, transferred the data, and stowed the experiment hardware. The Grip experiment studies the long-duration spaceflight effects on the abilities of human subjects to regulate grip force and upper limbs trajectories when manipulating objects during different kinds of movements: oscillatory movements, rapid …

NASA’s CAPSTONE successfully completed its first trajectory correction maneuver, which started at 11:30 a.m. EDT Thursday. This is the first in a series of thruster burns over the next few months to more accurately target CAPSTONE’s transfer orbit to the Moon. The maneuver lasted just over 11 minutes and changed the spacecraft’s velocity by about 45 …

Three of the four science instruments on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have completed their commissioning activities and are ready for science. Each of Webb's instruments has multiple modes of operation, which need to be tested, calibrated, and ultimately verified before they can begin to conduct science. The latest instrument to complete this process, the …

The International Space Station continues hosting an array of advanced science experiments and spacewalk preparations. The seven Expedition 67 residents also ensured the ongoing operation of research gear and electronics equipment while auditing station office supplies. The lack of an up and down reference in microgravity may affect the human nervous system potentially impacting how …

After a thorough review, teams have determined what led to CAPSTONE’s communications issue that began on July 4.   During commissioning of NASA’s CAPSTONE (short for Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) spacecraft, the Deep Space Network team noted inconsistent ranging data. While investigating this, the spacecraft operations team attempted to access diagnostic …

On July 2, 2022, InSight was generating an average of 400 watt-hours of energy per Martian day, or sol. The tau, or level of dust cover in the atmosphere, was estimated at 1.02 (typical tau levels outside of dust season range from 0.6-0.7).

As the Webb team wraps up the final tests for commissioning this week, we are now only days away from the public release of the first images and spectra on July 12! This also means that Webb is moving into the phase of full science operations that includes a highly impressive suite of science programs …

The Expedition 67 crew continued exploring how humans and plants adapt in microgravity while testing robotic free-flyers on Wednesday. The orbital residents are also preparing for another spacewalk at the International Space Station to continue outfitting a new robotic arm. NASA Flight Engineers Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines partnered together during the morning studying how …