In the month of December, stargazers get ready for some excitement in the sky! Catch the year’s best meteor shower, the Geminids, in the middle of the month. Then, witness an extremely close pairing of Jupiter and Saturn that won’t be repeated for decades. And mark the shortest day of the year on the northern …
Payloads Fiber Optic Production (FOP): The crew reviewed procedures and performed the setup of hardware in the Microgravity Science Glovebox. The Fiber Optic Production investigation creates optical fibers with high commercial value aboard the ISS using a blend of zirconium, barium, lanthanum, sodium, and aluminum called ZBLAN. It operates in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). …
Expedition 64 is getting ready for over 6,400 pounds of cargo due to arrive this weekend aboard the next-generation SpaceX Dragon space freighter. All seven International Space Station residents also were immersed in microgravity research throughout Thursday. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon cargo spacecraft has rolled out to the launch pad at …
Expedition 64 is getting ready for over 6,400 pounds of cargo due to arrive this weekend aboard the next-generation SpaceX Dragon space freighter. All seven International Space Station residents also were immersed in microgravity research throughout Thursday. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon cargo spacecraft has rolled out to the launch pad at …
NASA and SpaceX are targeting Saturday, Dec. 5, for SpaceX’s 21st Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-21) mission to the International Space Station. Weather officials with the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing are predicting a 40% chance of favorable weather conditions for liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Cargo Dragon spacecraft from Kennedy Space …
December is shaping up to be a busy month as the Expedition 64 crew gears up for space freighter traffic. All seven crew members also practiced responding to a simulated emergency aboard the International Space Station. NASA Flight Engineer Kate Rubins set up the tools that she and fellow Flight Engineer Victor Glover will use …
Payloads JEM Airlock (Japanese Experiment Module): The crew removed the JEM ORU Transfer Interface (JOTI) from the JEM Airlock. Kibo’s airlock is dedicated to goods and cannot accommodate people. The maximum size of an item that can pass through this airlock is 576x830x800 mm. The airlock attached to the Kibo’s Pressurized Module (PM) will be …
Technicians are simultaneously manufacturing NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) core stages for the Artemis II and Artemis III lunar missions at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The core stage for the deep space rocket consists of two huge propellant tanks, four RS-25 engines, and miles of cabling for the avionics systems and flight computers. All the …
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, topped with the upgraded version of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft, is seen inside the company’s hangar at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 2, 2020, prior to being rolled out to the launch pad in preparation for the CRS-21 launch. The rocket and spacecraft are slated to make …
Payloads Plant Habitat-02: The crew cleaned the Plant Habitat-02 facility. Assessment of Nutritional Value and Growth Parameters of Space-grown Plants (Plant Habitat-02) cultivates radishes as a model plant that is nutritious and edible, has a short cultivation time, and is genetically similar to Arabidopsis, a plant frequently studied in microgravity. Developing the capability for food …
