Blogs

It doesn’t take a lot of technology to see that the ocean is blue. And when it comes to the blueness of the ocean, it doesn’t get much more blue than where I am. I’m sitting on the research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer—the largest icebreaker that supports the United States Antarctic Program—on an oceanographic expedition […]

Space Headaches: The daily questionnaire for the ESA Space Headaches investigation was completed by a 52S crewmember.  The Space Headaches investigation collects information that may help in the development of methods to alleviate associated symptoms and improvement in the well-being and performance of crewmembers in space. Headaches during space flight can negatively affect mental and …

The Expedition 53 crew worked on a variety of astronomy gear today that looks at meteors in Earth orbit and harmful radiation from deep space. The crew also explored how microgravity affects human bones and muscles. Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei worked on a camera for the Meteor experiment, ongoing since March 2016, which peers …

Dragon SpaceX (SpX)-12 Unberth:  Over the weekend, the crew packed critical items and egressed the vehicle in preparation for Dragon departure.  Dragon was unberthed from the ISS via ground commanding on Saturday at approximately 5:06 PM CDT.  Ground teams then maneuvered the Dragon to an overnight park position.  Early Sunday morning at 03:41 AM CDT, …

Expedition 53 is gearing up for three maintenance spacewalks set to take place in October over a period of two weeks. Meanwhile, the six-member crew continued researching today how their long-term missions in space affect their bodies. Commander Randy Bresnik began unpacking spacewalking gear today ahead of the first of three spacewalks set to begin …

We recently posted several striking pairs of satellite images of Caribbean islands before and after they were hit by Hurricane Irma. The images show lush, green vegetation turning a dark shade of brown. We were curious about what exactly caused the damage and how quickly vegetation might recover, so we checked in with Edmund Tanner, […]

Sleep.  I don’t mean to say it is taken for granted, but it is dependable. Dependable in the sense that after the day’s activities, we go to sleep. Each and every night.  That’s how it works at home at least.  Here on the ship, work is being conducted 24 hours per day to get the […]

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at approximately 10:14 a.m. EDT, southwest of Long Beach, California, and the recovery process is underway, marking the end of the company’s twelfth contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. Expedition 53 Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency) …

At 4:40 a.m. EDT, Expedition 53 Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli of ESA (European Space Agency) and International Space Station Commander Randy Bresnik used the Canadarm2 robotic arm to release the SpaceX Dragon after it was detached from the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module. Dragon’s thrusters will be fired to move the spacecraft a safe …