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Pilots and passengers on aircraft have a good chance of seeing a glory, earning this colorful optical phenomenon the name “glory of the pilot” or “pilot’s halo.”

SpX-15 External Cargo Status:  Last night ground specialists used the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to extract ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) from the Dragon trunk and hand it off to the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS). The JEMRMS was then used to install ECOSTRESS at the Exposed …

More research gear continues to be unloaded from inside and outside of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft today. Back on Earth, another resupply ship is poised to blast off Monday on a quick delivery mission to the International Space Station. Overnight, mission controllers commanded the Canadarm2 robotic arm to extract a new Earth-observing experiment from …

Rodent Research-7 (RR-7): Yesterday the crew transferred the mice from the Transporter Units that arrived on the SpaceX-15 Dragon vehicle to the two Habitat units in which they will reside on ISS. They checked the water flow in each side of the Habitats and installed the rodent huts and food bars. The crew also stowed …

ISS crew activities are limited today to allow the crew to enjoy the US Independence Day holiday.  For Rodent Research-7 (RR-7) today the crew transferred the mice from Transporter Units that arrived on the SpaceX-15 Dragon vehicle to the two Habitat units in which they will reside on ISS.  They checked the water flow in …

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 …