Blogs

The crew of the International Space Station has moved into the Soyuz vehicle docked to the station as a precaution due to an anticipated close approach of a piece of space debris to the orbiting complex. The debris is expected to pass closest to the station at about 7:01 a.m. CDT July 16, 2015. The …

NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) Operations:  Overnight and this morning ground teams deployed 6 more Cubesats for a total of 12 of 16 planned. Final deployments are scheduled for 5:50 PM CDT today and 12:30 AM CDT tomorrow. The complement consists of 14 Planet Lab Doves, 1 Arkyd-3 and 1 Centennial-1 satellite.  Integrated Resistance and Aerobic …

The three Expedition 44 crew members commemorated today the July 15, 1975, launch of the Apollo and Soyuz spaceships that would dock two days later. The day before, the crew celebrated the successful Pluto flyby of the New Horizons spacecraft. Then it was back to work as the station residents continued space research and orbital …

NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) Operations:  Overnight there was an issue with a NRCSD deploy. Ground teams sent the command but only one door opened. Later during a night pass it was discovered that the CubeSat had deployed. Ground teams met and agreed to go forward with an additional deploy which was completed successfully. So far …

As the Expedition 44 crew orbited above the Earth at 17,500 miles per hour the New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto this morning at more than 30,000 mph. New Horizons’ closest approach was about 7,750 miles above the dwarf planet’s surface after a nine-year trip. The International Space Station has been orbiting at an average …

NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) Operations:  On Saturday Kelly completed final preparations for a series of deployments of CubeSats from a NRCSD by performing a leak check of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock (AL) and venting residual air. Kelly opened the outer hatch and extended the JEMAL slide table to the JEM Exposed Facility (JEF) …

A new trio of space station crew members arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Friday to complete mission preparations. In space, the orbital residents began a series of Cubesat deployments. The Expedition 44/45 crew comprised of Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui are wrapping up preflight training in Kazakhstan. …

ISS Reboost: Overnight a planned reboost using the 58P 8R&D thrusters was performed.  This reboost is the second of two to set up 4-orbit rendezvous for 43S launch scheduled for July 22.  The reboost is also the first of three scheduled to set up 4-orbit rendezvous conditions for 44S launch and 42S landing in the …

ISS Reboost: A planned reboost is scheduled at 9:54 pm CDT tonight using 58P thrusters. Delta V will be 1.22 m/s and burn duration is estimated to be 10 minutes and 57 seconds.  The reboost will set up phasing for 43S docking and dynamic operations for future visiting vehicles. NanoRack Cubesat Deployer (NRCSD) Operations:  Kelly …

The final day of the 2015 International Space Station (ISS) Research and Development conference closed the event with multiple talks looking at exploration beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO) and novel ways the space station is affecting life on Earth. Panel sessions began with a talk about the commercial capabilities and technologies that will be needed—together with …