Blogs

The Orbital ATK L-1011 Stargazer aircraft touched down at 3:57 p.m. EST at the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Attached beneath the Stargazer is the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL with NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) on board. CYGNSS was processed and prepared for its mission at Vandenberg Air …

Robotic External Leak Locator (RELL) Operations: Overnight, RELL checkout and demonstration was performed by performing scans of the Port 1 Truss (P1) Truss Radiator Beam Valve Modules (RBVMs), and the P1 Ammonia (NH3) Vent. Today the Robotics Ground Controllers are performing the Pump Flow and Control Subsystem (PFCS) survey. Once the PFCS survey is complete, …

Testing of several of the umbilical lines that will attach to NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from the tower on the mobile launcher continues at the Launch Equipment Test Facility (LETF) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Core Stage Inter-tank Umbilical (CSITU) arrived at the LETF and was attached to the “C” tower …

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is getting the last cargo mission of 2016 ready for launch next week. It’s sixth H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-6) nick-named “Kounotori” has been in processing for months and will lift off Dec. 9 from Tanegashima, Japan for a three-day trip to the station. The payload aboard HTV-6 will include potable …

65 Progress (65P) Launch:  65P launched from the Baikonur, Kazakhstan Cosmodrome today at 8:51 am CST.  Telemetry indicated that the 3rd stage separation occurred a little more than 2 minutes early.  Telemetry over Russian Ground Sites (RGS) was lost earlier than expected.  Communication with the vehicle was never reacquired with the vehicle.  The 65P vehicle …

A new liquid hydrogen (LH2) liquid separator tank has arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will be used to support the agency’s Space Launch System rocket and all future launches from Launch Pad 39B. The tank was lifted by crane, rotated, and then lowered on the transporter for the move to the …

Launch of the ISS Progress 65 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan occurred at 9:51 a.m. EST (8:51 p.m. Baikonur time). An anomaly occurred sometime during the third stage operation. As we get updates from Roscosmos, we will provide them. The Expedition 50 crew was informed of the Progress 65 mission’s status. Read the statement …

Launch of the ISS Progress 65 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan occurred at 9:51 a.m. EST (8:51 p.m. Baikonur time). Flight controllers are monitoring the spacecraft at this time and we are standing by for additional updates on Progress 65. The Russian Progress spacecraft is carrying more than 2.6 tons of food, fuel, and …

Robotic External Leak Locator (RELL) Operations: Yesterday, Ground Controllers used the SPDM to remove the RELL from the JEMAL Slide Table. A checkout was performed by pointing RELL towards deep space in order to scan a clean environment as a baseline. Today, RELL performed background scans along the Port 1 (P1) truss segment in order …

Robotic External Leak Locator (RELL) Operations: On GMT 333, upon powering up the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) for RELL ops, the Dexterous Manipulator Control Software (DMCS) Payload Status showed “Unloaded” for ORU Tool Changeout Mechanism (OTCM) 2 instead of “Secure” which was unexpected since it was captured to …