Blogs

The six Expedition 50 crew members from France, Russia and the United States are heading into the final holidays of the year with a muscle study and Earth observations today. The astronauts also checked out fluids and combustion science gear and practiced an emergency escape drill. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet measured his muscle and tendon …

The final work platform for NASA’s Space Launch System arrived Dec. 13 at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The second half of the A-level platforms, A north, was transported to the center by heavy-lift truck from Tillett Heavy Hauling in Titusville, Florida, and delivered to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) staging area. The …

Lighting Effects Meter Reading: The crew set up and configured the Light Meter hardware and took readings in the Node 1 and Crew Quarters (CQ). The Node 1 light is the legacy General Luminaire Assembly (GLA), while the CQ light has been upgraded to the newly installed Solid State Lighting Assemblies (SSLAs). The Lighting Effects …

Several of the umbilicals that will support the launch of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket atop the mobile launcher were transported from the Launch Equipment Test Facility to the Mobile Launcher Yard and staging area at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They will be prepped for installation on the mobile launcher. The …

Medical Consumables Tracker (MCT) Installation: The crew installed the HTV-6 delivered MCT hardware in the Crew Health Care System (CHeCS) Resupply Stowage Rack (RSR). MCT uses Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) codes to track medicines and medical supplies on board the ISS. Ground managers will be able to track which medical supplies are being used, and how …

We have successfully contacted each of the 8 observatories on our first attempt. This bodes very well for their health and status, which is the next thing we will be carefully checking with the next contacts in the coming days. It is an amazingly rewarding feeling to spend such an intense and focused time working …

The eighth CYGNSS satellite was contacted at 3:30 p.m. EST through the Chile ground station — 100-percent success! Full constellation redundancy achieved.

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations: When trying to power up the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) Control Unit 2 (SACU2) the sequence aborted with the same signature as yesterday. When swapping Bus channels, the power up sequence completed. It was decided to call off the RapidScat activity and perform troubleshooting instead to better understand the …

CYGNSS satellite six was contacted at 3:01 p.m. EST, seven at 3:28 EST, both by the ground station in Chile. One more to go!

The fifth CYGNSS satellite was contacted at 1:53 p.m. EST — also at a Chile ground station. Three to go!