Blogs

Dust off the lawn chairs and get ready for the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower which will occur on the night of April 22. “The Lyrids are really unpredictable,” Cooke said. “For the 2015 shower, I’m expecting 15 to 20 Lyrid meteors an hour. Peak rates should occur after 10:30 PM on April 22 your local time, …

As Expedition 43 unloads crew supplies from the SpaceX Dragon, another cargo craft is being readied for its undocking. Meanwhile, new research is underway with some of the science gear hauled into space aboard Dragon. Russia’s ISS Progress 57 space freighter is being packed with trash and discarded gear. It will undock from the Pirs …

Rodent Research-2 Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (RR-2 CASIS): Sunday, the crew successfully performed the RR-2 transfer activities, moving the animals from the transporters delivered on SpaceX-6 (SpX-6) to their Habitats.  Today, Virts and Cristoforetti cleaned the Access Unit and stowed the transporters.  Kelly and Virts completed a procedure review, video setup, …

NASA astronauts Terry Virts and Scott Kelly opened the hatches and floated into the new SpaceX Dragon space freighter Saturday morning, beginning five weeks of cargo transfers. The sixth Dragon cargo mission for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract delivered a wide variety of crew supplies and science gear to support dozens of new and ongoing …

SpaceX (SpX)-6 Ingress/Cargo Transfer: Early this morning the crew opened the hatch and ingressed the Dragon vehicle. They completed vehicle hardware reconfig, unpacked Double Cold Bags (DCBs) and placed them in Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI)-1, Biolab, and MELFI-3 per the Cold Stowage plans.  Kubik preparation and activation: Cristoforetti configured and …

SpaceX (SpX)-6 Capture and Berthing: The Dragon vehicle was captured at 5:55 AM CDT today followed by nominal berthing, vestibule outfitting and Common Berthing Mechanism (CBM) Control Panel Assembly (CPA) removal. Tomorrow, the crew will ingress the vehicle and begin unpacking cargo. Fine Motor Skills: Kelly and Kornienko performed their Flight Day (FD) 20 Fine …

The Expedition 43 crew’s delivery arrived Friday aboard the SpaceX Dragon space freighter. Dragon was captured at 6:55 a.m. EDT after a two-day trip and a slow methodical approach. Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti guided the Canadarm2 and grappled the Dragon as it floated just 10 meters away from the International Space Station. The crew will open …

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft was berthed to the Harmony module of the International Space Station at 9:29 a.m. EDT while the two spacecraft were traveling above the coast of Sierra Leone. The hatch between the newly arrived spacecraft and the Harmony module of the space station is scheduled to be opened Saturday. The spacecraft is loaded with …

Following its capture, the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship is being maneuvered by ground controllers operating the International Space Station’s robotic arm for installation onto the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module. Operations are progressing ahead of schedule, so NASA Television coverage will resume at 8:45 a.m. EDT at https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv. Expedition 43 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European …

While the International Space Station was traveling 257 statute miles over the Pacific Ocean just east of Japan, Expedition 43 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency, with the assistance of Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts of NASA, successfully captured the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with the station’s robotic arm at 6:55 a.m. EDT. Operations …