It was a busy Tuesday aboard the International Space Station as the Expedition 63 crew reorganized science racks and serviced life support hardware. Since its inception, the main focus of the orbiting lab has been research that is only possible in microgravity. Scientists take advantage of these unique insights to improve health and industry for …
Payloads EXPRESS Rack Relocation: The crew performed the activities necessary to relocate EXPRESS racks 8, 10B, and 11B to their final locations. EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Racks are multipurpose payload rack systems that store and support research aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The EXPRESS Racks support science experiments in any …
NASA’s Orion Program has completed the System Acceptance Review and Design Certification Review to certify the Artemis I spacecraft is fit for flight, ready to venture from Earth to the lunar vicinity, and return home for landing and recovery. The review examined every spacecraft system, all test data, inspection reports, and analyses that support verification, …
Payloads JEMAL Depressurization: The crew assisted with the depressurization of the JEM airlock (JEMAL) in preparation for the NREP component removal later this week. The NanoRacks External Platform represents (NREP) the first external commercial research capability for the testing of scientific investigations, sensors, and electronic components in space. The NanoRacks External Platform is installed, on …
The last of three motors required to assemble the Launch Abort System for NASA’s Artemis II mission–the first crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft–arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 28. The attitude control motor (ACM) was delivered by truck from Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing facility in Maryland, to the Launch Abort System Facility …
The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, is off to an extremely active start.
The Expedition 63 crew kicked off the work week exploring space agriculture and spacecraft technologies. The trio also split the day on upcoming mission preparations and International Space Station maintenance. Ongoing botany studies on the station have been teaching scientists, engineers and astronauts how to grow crops in space, so crews can feed themselves farther …
Payloads MSRR/MSL (Materials Science Laboratory) SCA exchange: The crew removed the processed calibration cartridge and inserted the first ESA batch-2b Sample Cartridge Assembly (SCA). Batch-2b serves two projects investigating how different phases organize in a structure when metallic alloys are solidified. The project Metastable Solidification of Composites (METCOMP) studies the phase formed by the reaction of …
Mission controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center are returning to normal operations today after setting backup control centers at remote locations. The International Space Station support team returned to Houston after setting up remote operations earlier this week when Hurricane Laura neared the Texas-Louisiana border. The three Expedition 63 crew members continued their standard science …
Payloads Combustion Integrated Rack/Advanced Combustion via Microgravity Experiments (CIR/ACME): The crew performed the steps necessary to reconfigure the CIR/ACME hardware components from the completed s-Flame part 2 experiment to BRE part 2 (Burning Rate Emulator), which is one of the ACME suite of five experiments. Although the crew was not able to locate and install …
