Blogs

SpX-15 Ingress and Cargo Operations:  This morning the crew ingressed Dragon and transferred the Center Stack. Once complete, they unpacked Double Coldbags, transferred a POLAR from Dragon to ISS, and retrieved and unpacked the Dragon Cargo Transfer Bag (CTB).  The crew completed today’s cargo operations by transferring the final cold stowage assets from the Dragon …

The International Space Station crew from the United States, Russia and Germany is going into the Fourth of July holiday unpacking new research gear from the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft. The six Expedition 56 crew members also conducted advanced space research and orbital lab maintenance today. NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold opened the hatches to the …

SpX-15 Mission:  At 5:56 AM CDT, the ISS crew used the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to capture the Dragon vehicle. Ground specialists then maneuvered the spacecraft to the pre-install position where they performed an inspection of the Passive Common Berthing Mechanism (PCBM).  Once complete, Dragon was berthed to the Node2 Nadir port at …

Three days after its launch from Florida, the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft was installed on the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 9:52 a.m. EDT. The 15th contracted commercial resupply mission from SpaceX (CRS-15) delivers more than 5,900 pounds of research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory. Among the research …

While the International Space Station was traveling more than 256 miles over Quebec, Canada, NASA astronauts Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel, captured the Dragon spacecraft at 6:54 a.m. EDT using the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. Ground controllers will now send commands to begin the robotic installation of the spacecraft on bottom of the station’s Harmony …

SpaceX-15 Launch: SpX-15 launched nominally today at 4:42 AM CDT from Launch Pad LC-40 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. In preparation for vehicle arrival, the crew scheduled to capture Dragon completed their second Robotics Onboard Trainer (ROBoT) session this afternoon. In addition, all USOS crew participated in a conference with ground cargo transfer specialists to …

Dragon successfully launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:42 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft’s solar arrays have deployed. It will arrive at the International Space Station Monday morning carrying more than 5,900 pounds of research investigations and equipment, cargo and supplies that will support some of the hundreds …

Umbilical Interface Assembly (UIA) Remove and Replace (R&R) Troubleshooting: Yesterday the crew investigated if loosening the 20 fasteners securing the UIA to the Airlock mounting bracket would generate any free play and allow the crew to close the gap in the Oxygen Supply lines; unfortunately, the crew indicated the tolerances were too tight and this …

The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket slated to launch NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, has made significant progress toward liftoff, planned for Sept. 12. Prelaunch preparations are well underway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where the rocket is coming together at Space Launch Complex 2. Earlier this month …

Umbilical Interface Assembly (UIA) Remove and Replace (R&R) Troubleshooting: During the UIA R&R yesterday, the crew noted that the Oxygen (O2) Supply line was approximately 2-3 mm too short to be properly mate without applying a tensile, stretching force to make contact.  Initial troubleshooting was unsuccessful, and the O2 line was left partially connected and …