Blogs

Payloads: Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR): The crew performed more steps in support of the multi-part rack reconfiguration from the Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) experiment insert to the Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction (SoFIE) experiment insert.   Specifically, the crew removed the ACME Camera Package, relocated the CIR Intensified Camera Package, installed the CIR Chamber …

A Russian cargo craft is at its launch pad counting down to a lift off tonight to resupply the International Space Station. Meanwhile, the seven-member Expedition 66 crew stayed focused on a variety of research activities while getting ready for another cargo mission due to arrive early next week. Russia’s ISS Progress 80 resupply ship …

Payloads: EasyMotion: The crew charged the EasyMotion system in preparation for experiment activities.  The EasyMotion investigation uses whole body Electro-Myo-Stimulation (EMS) with a wearable body skin suit for an ISS crew member to perform pre- and postflight EMS-assisted exercises. EMS technology initiates spontaneous (involuntary) activation of global musculature (muscle, tendon, fascia) to be monitored (muscle …

Work continues inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for the Artemis I wet dress rehearsal test, currently targeted for next month. Teams have been installing the flight termination system on the rocket and working on the first of a two-part test of the system. For safety, …

The Expedition 66 crew is getting ready for a pair of cargo missions launching from Kazakhstan and the United States next week. The Progress and Cygnus resupply ships will be delivering several tons of food, fuel, and supplies to replenish the seven astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. Russia’s ISS Progress 80 cargo …

Lee esta nota en español aquí. The James Webb Space Telescope is nearing completion of the first phase of the months-long process of aligning the observatory's primary mirror using the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument. The team's challenge was twofold: confirm that NIRCam was ready to collect light from celestial objects, and then identify starlight from …

While we have started the long process of aligning the telescope mirrors, almost all of the components on Webb's cold side are still continuing to cool. Webb's giant sunshield keeps the telescope and cameras out of both direct sunlight and sunlight that is reflected from Earth and the Moon. Everything on the cold side of …

Payloads: Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR): The crew performed steps in support of the multi-part rack reconfiguration from the Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (ACME) experiment insert to the Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction (SoFIE) experiment insert.  Specifically, the crew exchanged bottles at Manifold 2 and 4, exchanged the adsorber cartridge, set the CIR valve timers, …

Following launch, an in-flight anomaly prevented delivery of the CubeSat payloads on NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa 41) mission. Astra’s Rocket 3.3 carrying four small research satellites lifted off at approximately 3 p.m. on Feb. 10 from Space Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. “Missions like these are critical …

We have liftoff! Astra’s first operational satellite mission launched on the company’s Rocket 3.3 at approximately 1:50 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch marked the first mission of NASA’s Venture Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 (VCLS Demo 2) contract awarded by the agency’s Launch Services Program, …