Archivo de la etiqueta: International Space Station

Russian Cargo Craft Nears Station, U.S. Space Freighter at Launch Pad

A Russian resupply ship is targeting the International Space Station for a cargo delivery early Thursday. While two cosmonauts get ready to support the cargo craft’s arrival, the rest of the Expedition 66 crew juggled lab maintenance, space research, and robotics training ahead of a U.S. cargo mission due to launch on Saturday.

Nearly three-and-a-half tons of food, fuel, and supplies are racing toward the orbiting lab today aboard the ISS Progress 80 resupply ship from Roscosmos. Station Commander Anton Shkaplerov and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov will be monitoring the cargo craft’s automated approach on Thursday when it docks to the Poisk module at 2:06 a.m. EST. The duo continued training today on the tele-robotically operated rendezvous unit, or TORU, preparing for the unlikely event the Progress 80 would need to be manually docked.

Another cargo craft rolled out to its launch pad on Tuesday at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The U.S. Cygnus space freighter from Northrop Grumman is loaded with over 8,300 pounds of station hardware and new science experiments. It will launch atop an Antares rocket on Saturday at 12:40 p.m. and reach the station for a capture with the Canadarm2 robotic arm on Monday at 4:35 a.m.

NASA Flight Engineers Raja Chari and Kayla Barron trained today for the capture activities on the robotics workstation and will be on duty Monday monitoring Cygnus’ approach and rendezvous. Controllers on the ground will take over robotics duties after Cygnus is captured and remotely install the U.S. cargo craft to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port where it will stay for just over three months.

The station’s other three astronauts focused on ongoing equipment servicing and microgravity science in the midst of this week’s cargo activities. NASA Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Thomas Marshburn wrapped up the cooling component work on the COLBERT treadmill in the Tranquility module. Marshburn also set up an Astrobee robotic free-flyer with a smart phone video guidance sensor being tested remotely by controllers on Earth. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer swapped hardware inside the waste and hygiene compartment, the station’s restroom, before computer operations on human research gear.

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Mark Garcia

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Vein, Eye Scans as Russian Cargo Mission Orbits Toward Station

Vein scans and hardware maintenance kept the Expedition 66 crew busy on Tuesday aboard the International Space Station. Meanwhile, Russia’s 80^th space station cargo mission is orbiting Earth and on schedule to arrive at the orbiting lab early Thursday.

Three astronauts were scheduled on Tuesday afternoon for a series of vein and eye scans with doctors on the ground monitoring in real time. The station trio from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) gathered inside the Columbus laboratory module and used the Ultrasound 2 device to image each other’s neck, shoulder, and leg veins. NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Thomas Marshburn kicked off the biomedical work Tuesday afternoon. German astronaut Matthias Maurer joined them afterward wrapping up the vein and eye examinations. Doctors uses the data to understand how living in microgravity affects the human body.

Marshburn and Maurer had joined each other earlier in the day for maintenance on the COLBERT treadmill in the Tranquility module. Maurer began the work before lunchtime repairing cooling components on the exercise device. Marshburn followed up in the afternoon temporarily stowing the workout gear ahead of more work planned for the 11-year-old treadmill.

NASA Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari split their day working on satellite hardware and life support gear. Barron spent Tuesday morning in the Kibo laboratory module uninstalling the small satellite orbital deployer. Its most recent deployment was a series of scientific and educational CubeSats delivered on the last SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission. Chari spent part of his day removing air and flushing the station’s water recovery system.

Nearly three tons of food, fuel, and supplies aboard the ISS Progress 80 cargo craft successfully reached orbit late Monday after its liftoff from Kazakhstan on Monday at 11:25 p.m. EST. Cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov will be on duty monitoring the Russian resupply ship when it automatically docks to the Poisk module on Thursday at 2:06 a.m. EST.

Shkaplerov cleaned Poisk on Tuesday morning making space to begin cargo transfers after the Progress 80’s arrival. The station commander from Roscosmos later joined Dubrov for an ongoing study that explores ways to pilot future spacecraft and robots on planetary missions.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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Russian Cargo Craft Blasts off to Resupply Station

The uncrewed Russian Progress 80 is safely in orbit headed for the International Space Station following launch at 11:25 p.m. EST (9:25 a.m. on Feb. 15 Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The resupply ship reached preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas as planned on its way to meet up with the orbiting laboratory and its Expedition 66 crew members.

After making 34 orbits of Earth on its journey, Progress will dock to the station’s Poisk module on the space-facing side of the Russian segment at 2:06 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 17. Live coverage on NASA TV of rendezvous and docking will begin at 1:30 a.m.

Progress will deliver almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies to the International Space Station. The Russian space agency Roscosmos will determine a departure date for Progress 80.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

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Russian Cargo Craft Launching to Station Live on NASA TV

NASA Television, the agency’s website and the NASA app now are providing live coverage of the launch of a Russian cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.

The uncrewed Russian Progress 80 is scheduled to lift off on a Soyuz rocket at 11:25 p.m. EST (9:25 a.m. on Feb. 15 Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a 34-orbit journey to the microgravity laboratory.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

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Crew Gets Ready for Pair of Cargo Missions Launching this Week

A Russian cargo craft is at its launch pad counting down to a lift off tonight to resupply the International Space Station. Meanwhile, the seven-member Expedition 66 crew stayed focused on a variety of research activities while getting ready for another cargo mission due to arrive early next week.

Russia’s ISS Progress 80 resupply ship stands at its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan loaded with nearly three tons of food, fuel, and supplies. The 80^th cargo mission from Roscosmos is due to launch tonight at 11:25 p.m. EST and automatically dock to the Poisk module on Thursday at 2:06 a.m. live on NASA TV and the agency’s website and the NASA app.

A U.S. cargo mission is also on tap to launch on Saturday at 12:40 p.m. from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter will arrive at a point about 10 meters from the space station when the Canadarm2 robotic arm, commanded by NASA Flight Engineer Raja Chari, will capture the vehicle at 4:35 a.m. next Monday. Robotics controllers on the ground will take over shortly afterward and remotely install Cygnus to the Unity module a couple of hours later. Chari and his back up NASA Flight Engineer Kayla Barron are training today on a computer for the upcoming robotics activities.

While two rockets are getting ready to blast off to the orbiting lab this week, the space lab residents stayed busy today with space science and station maintenance activities.

NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei continued setting up the Combustion Integrated Rack for the upcoming SoFIE, or Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction, series of fire safety studies. Astronaut Matthias Maurer of ESA (European Space Agency) participated in a vision test then wore a specialized body suit that stimulates muscles for the EasyMotion exercise study. NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn started the day on computer maintenance before spending the afternoon in the Tranquility module working on the U.S. treadmill.

Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos activated the EarthKAM experiment in the Harmony module for a weeklong session of Earth photography remotely-controlled by students on the ground. Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov continued setting up the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for operations.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

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Mark Garcia

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