Blogs

In 2016, we published space-based imagery of Iguazú Falls—South America’s famous system of waterfalls, which is near a bend in the Iguazú River between Argentina and Brazil. Spray from the falls reaches so high that it is visible from space. A crew member aboard the International Space Station captured the photograph above on May 24, 2016. The view from the ground is also […]

Rodent Research 6 (RR-6):  During the installation of four Rodent Habitats yesterday, the crew noticed a leak on the outside of the first two habitats. The crew successfully installed the third and fourth habitats, but were instructed to temporarily stow the first two habitats until ground teams could develop a forward plan.  Earlier today, the …

The International Space Station is orbiting slightly higher today to get ready for a pair of crews swapping places on the orbital laboratory in December. A Progress 67 resupply ship docked to the rear of the station fired its engines for just over three minutes this morning boosting the orbital lab to its correct altitude …

Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The November 2017 puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what we are looking at, when the image was acquired, and why the scene is interesting. How to answer. You can use a few words or several paragraphs. You might simply tell us the […]

Sabatier Removal for Return:  In preparation for returning Sabatier, today the crew completed the first of two days of activities by removing the Sabatier unit from the Oxygen Generation System (OGS) Rack.  They also completed some near term preventive maintenance activities by performing an H2 Sensor Removal and Replacement (R&R) and Avionics Air Assembly (AAA) …

The Expedition 53 crew is configuring the orbital complex for a pair of cargo missions and a crew swap in December. Two colorful soccer ball-sized satellites were also floating around inside the International Space Station being tested today. SpaceX has announced it is now targeting Dec. 8 for the launch of its Dragon cargo craft …

Earth Imagery from ISS Target Operations: Over the weekend, the crew captured images and video footage of the Australian Desert, Italy at night, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, and Ireland to Moscow at night. The Earth Imagery from ISS investigation creates a series of videos, displaying Earth from space. These videos will be taken with …

The Cygnus resupply ship is in its final week at the International Space Station and two astronauts are training for its departure on Monday. Meanwhile, a leg muscle study and CubeSat deployment operations are wrapping up today. Cygnus is now being filled with trash after delivering close to 7,400 pounds of research and supplies to …

Cygnus Cargo Operations:  The crew completed 12 hours and 45 minutes of Cygnus cargo operations today, at this time the crew has completed 84% of the cargo operations for this Cygnus mission.  Ground specialist estimate the crew will require approximately 8 hours to complete the remaining cargo operations.   Sarcolab-3: After successfully completing three days of …