Blogs

The G-level work platforms for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, were installed this week in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. A heavy-lift crane was used to raise G south and G north platforms up from the transfer aisle, then over and down to about the …

Multi-Omics: The crew checked the remaining Fructooligosaccharide (FOS) packages and stowed the Fructooligo Bag for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Multi-Omics investigation. The Multi-Omics analysis of human microbial-metabolic cross-talk in the space ecosystem evaluates the impacts of space environment and prebiotics on astronauts’ immune function by combining the data obtained from the measurements of …

Three Expedition 48-49 crew members are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome awaiting the beginning of their mission in less than two weeks. Back inside the International Space Station, the orbiting crew is working on research hardware and conducting life science. Veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and first time space flyers Kate Rubins from NASA and Takuya Onishi …

Today's post is written by Simon Porter, a New Horizons postdoctoral researcher at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Simon's work focuses on the small satellites of Pluto. Hi, I'm Simon Porter, a postdoctoral researcher on NASA's New Horizons mission. In this blog post, I'm going to talk about our observations of the Kuiper …

Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock (JEMAL) Exposed Experiment Handrail Attachment Mechanism (ExHAM) #1-2 Operations: Following the JEM Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) Small Fine Arm (SFA) retrieval and detachment of 14 ExHAM #1 samples from the Handhold Experiment Platform last week, today the new samples were installed. ExHAM #1-2 is the first return and sample exchange …

Three Expedition 48 crew members are orbiting Earth awaiting the addition of a new trio preparing to join them next month on the International Space Station. As the new crew gets ready to head to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad on Friday, the orbiting crew is conducting advanced science and maintaining the orbital lab systems. …

Cygnus Re-entry: Cygnus re-entry burn was completed today at 7:45 AM CDT following unberth last Tuesday, June 14. The NRCSD-E deployment planned for yesterday succeeded in deploying four of five LEMUR satellites.  Several additional attempts were made to deploy the final satellite, but were not successful.  Orbital-ATK has confirmed via imagery that the deployer’s doors …

Commander Jeff Williams continued the ongoing maintenance on U.S. spacesuits throughout the workday on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Cygnus cargo craft from Orbital ATK re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere completing one final experiment. Williams scrubbed cooling loops and collected water samples from inside U.S. spacesuits ahead of a pair of spacewalks planned for later this year. The …

NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer- External (NRCSD-E) Operations: Following Cygnus unberth last week, today NRCSD-E conducted post departure satellite deployments prior to Cygnus re-entry tomorrow, June 22. This set of cubesats includes 3 deployment silos containing a total of 5 LEMUR satellites.  Two out of three silos (four out of five satellites) were successfully deployed. The Orbital …

A cargo ship that was released last week from the International Space Station will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere Wednesday. Back inside the orbital lab, the crew practiced emergency procedures after a light day of science and maintenance. The Orbital ATK Cygnus space freighter is spending its last day in space today. Cygnus has been busy conducting …