By Bill Cooke, NASA Meteoroid Environments Office Many Perseid-related news stories and social media posts state that the maximum rate is about 100 meteors per hour, which is a lot. So, folks get excited and go out on the peak night, braving mosquitos and other nightly hazards. But they are often disappointed; we routinely hear, …
NASA and Boeing continued work over the weekend and Monday morning on the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft service module propulsion system in preparation for the Orbital Flight Test-2 mission to the International Space Station. Work progressed to restore functionality to several valves in the Starliner propulsion system that did not open as designed during the …
Northrop Grumman is “go” to launch its Cygnus space freighter atop an Antares rocket on Tuesday at 5:56 p.m. EDT. It will arrive at the International Space Station on Thursday for a capture at 6:10 a.m. with NASA Flight Engineer Megan McArthur at the controls of the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Cygnus will lift off from …
NASA continues to work side-by-side with Boeing to understanding the CST-100 Starliner’s service module valve performance, including the unexpected indications some of the valves were in the closed position during its Aug. 3 launch attempt of Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2). With troubleshooting ongoing in the United Launch Alliance Vertical Integration Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space …
NASA's Parker Solar Probe is speeding busily through its ninth science-gathering solar encounter.
Payloads Astrobee/RFID recon: The crew installed the RFID recon reader into the Astrobee payload bay, powered on the Astrobee free-fliers, and started the experiment run. RFID-Enabled Autonomous Logistics Management-2 (REALM-2) (RFID Recon) uses a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader and antennas attached to a robotic free-flyer named Astrobee to identify RFID-tagged cargo on the International …
Payloads Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) humidifier installation: The crew installed the CBEF Incubator Unit (IU) humidifier on the micro-gravity CBEF IU. The Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) is a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) subrack facility; it is an incubator with an artificial gravity generator. CBEF is housed in the Saibo (living cell) Experiment …
NASA and Boeing are continuing to work through steps to determine what caused the unexpected valve position indications on the CST-100 Starliner propulsion system during the countdown for its Aug. 3 launch attempt. Now that the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Starliner spacecraft on top has been returned to its Vertical Integration …
The Expedition 65 crew was multi-tasking today working on everything from physics research to U.S. spacesuits to cargo transfers from Russia’s new science module. Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is on track to resupply the International Space Station next week. Station Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Thomas Pesquet were back on science duty today …
