Blogs

Commander Barry Wilmore and Flight Engineer Terry Virts reviewed spacewalk procedures Wednesday. They are scheduled to start the first of three spacewalks Feb. 20. The duo will set up cables and communication equipment allowing the future installation of International Docking Adapters accommodating commercial crew vehicles. A CubeSat delivered to the International Space Station in January …

Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-5:   Today, ATV experienced a possible failure with Battery Power Chain #4.  ATV ground teams are investigating and attempting to confirm whether the failure signature is in fact realistic and not a sensor issue. The Flight Control Teams are taking precautions as if it is a true failure, until more status is …

Mission Controllers in Houston will send commands to the 57.7 foot long Canadarm2 to grapple the SpaceX Dragon space freighter Tuesday. The robotic arm will latch on to a grapple fixture ahead of next week’s release of Dragon from the Harmony module. It will splash down off the Pacific coast of Baja California loaded with …

Combustion Integration Rack (CIR):  Virts removed the CIR alignment guides in preparation for a FLEX-2 run.  The CIR is currently configured for MDCA FLame Extinguishment Experiment (FLEX)-2, binary droplet test session which uses small droplets of fuel to study the special burning characteristics of fire in space. The FLEX-2 experiment studies the rate and manner …

There are three docked space freighters at the International Space Station and two are scheduled to depart this month. The SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft is being loaded with research and gear for return and analysis back on Earth. The Canadarm2 will detach Dragon from the Harmony module then release it for a splashdown Feb. …

NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive spacecraft is in excellent health, Kent Kellogg, the SMAP project manager, announced during a post-launch press conference. "All subsystems are being powered on and checked out as planned," he said. "Communications, guidance and control, computers and power are all operating nominally." The observatory's instruments won't be turned on until 11 …

And all three ELaNa X missions are flying free now that ExoCube, a space weather satellite consisting of three CubeSat units, has been deployed.

The GEO-CAPE ROIC In-Flight Performance Experiment, or GRIFEX, has successfully separated from the Delta II. GRIFEX is a technology validation mission consisting of three CubeSat units.

The FIREBIRD-II (A and B) payload has been deployed! This is a two-Cubesat space weather project that will study electron microbursts in the Van Allen radiation belts.

SECO-3. The second-stage engine performed a brief burn in preparation for release of the P-PODs.