Blogs

NASA Television coverage of today’s spacewalk with NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken is now underway and available on the agency’s website. The crew members of Expedition 63 are preparing to venture outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk expected to begin at approximately 7:35 a.m. EDT and last as long as seven hours. The crew is in …

NASA completed  the second of eight tests in the Green Run test series at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where the Space Launch System rocket’s core stage is installed in the B-2 Test Stand. The avionics power on and checkout test steadily brought the core stage flight avionics hardware, which controls the …

Due to launch vehicle processing delays in preparation for spacecraft mate operations, NASA and United Launch Alliance have moved the first launch attempt of the Mars 2020 mission to no earlier than July 30. A liquid oxygen sensor line presented off-nominal data during the Wet Dress Rehearsal, and additional time is needed for the team to inspect and …

Payloads Plant Habitat-02 Latch Evaluation: Following issues experienced with the Environmental Control System (ECS) installation a few weeks ago, the crew performed a more detailed inspection of the failed locking mechanism on the new ECS.  The inspection went well and the crew was able to lock and unlock the ECS system in the current configuration.  …

NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken are scheduled to depart the International Space Station’s Quest airlock Wednesday for a spacewalk to complete battery replacement activities to upgrade one of two power channels on the station’s far starboard truss (S6 Truss). The upgrade includes removing six aging nickel-hydrogen batteries and replacing them with three new lithium-ion batteries and the adapter plates …

The Expedition 63 crew is set for its second spacewalk on Wednesday at 7:35 a.m. EDT to continue upgrading International Space Station power systems. Commander Chris Cassidy will lead the spacewalk and exit the Quest airlock in the U.S. spacesuit with the red stripes. He’ll be followed by Flight Engineer Bob Behnken in his spacesuit …

Payloads MELFI 1/2/3 Nitrogen pressure check: The crew performed a routine pressure check on the 3 MELFI units on board ISS.  These checks are performed every 6 months to make sure the expected ~9000-10000 kPa is present in the units.  The MELFIs use nitrogen as a working fluid to achieve temperature set points as cold …

NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken will start their second spacewalk together on July 1. The duo will continue upgrading power systems on the International Space Station. The veteran spacewalkers wrapped up a spacewalk on Friday after six hours and 7 minutes swapping five aging nickel-hydrogen (NiH2) batteries with two new lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries. …

Systems USOS Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #65/S6 Battery EVA #1:  Chris Cassidy (EV1) and Bob Behnken (EV2) performed a 6 hour 7 minute EVA that completed the following tasks in support of the S6 Channel 1B battery transition from nickel hydrogen to lithium-ion batteries: NiH2 Battery 1 from S6 IEA to External Pallet (EP) Li-Ion Battery …

NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken concluded their spacewalk at 1:39 p.m. EDT, after six hours and seven minutes. The two NASA astronauts completed all the work planned for this first of four spacewalks to replace batteries that provide power for the station’s solar arrays on the starboard truss of the complex as well as initial tasks originally planned for …