NASA TV Broadcasts Early Saturday Arrival of Cargo Dragon

NASA TV Broadcasts Early Saturday Arrival of Cargo Dragon

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off with the Cargo Dragon resupply ship from the Kennedy Space Center on June 3, 2021. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off with the Cargo Dragon resupply ship from the Kennedy Space Center on June 3, 2021. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

SpaceX Dragon is on track to arrive at the International Space Station tomorrow morning June 5, with an expected capture of the cargo spacecraft around 5 a.m. EDT. NASA Television coverage will begin at 3:30 a.m. Watch live at http://www.nasa.gov/live.

When it arrives to the space station, Dragon will automatically dock to the space-facing side (zenith) of the station’s Harmony module with NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur monitoring operations. Dragon lifted off on Thursday, June 3, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The cargo spacecraft with more than 7,300 pounds of research, hardware, and supplies will support dozens of investigations aboard the orbiting laboratory. Dragon will join four other spacecraft currently at the space station.

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Mark Garcia

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Expedition 65 Crew Preps for Science-Packed Cargo Dragon

Expedition 65 Crew Preps for Science-Packed Cargo Dragon

Expedition 65 astronauts (from right) Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide, Shane Kimbrough and Mark Vande Hei share a light moment aboard the space station.
Expedition 65 astronauts (from right) Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide, Shane Kimbrough and Mark Vande Hei share a light moment aboard the space station.

New science, supplies and solar arrays are packed inside the SpaceX Cargo Dragon vehicle as it orbits toward the International Space Station. Two cosmonauts are also cleaning up following a successful spacewalk early Wednesday.

Five Expedition 65 astronauts are relaxing today, but will be on duty Saturday unpacking time-sensitive science experiments from the new Cargo Dragon resupply ship. NASA Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur will be monitoring Dragon during its rendezvous and approach on Saturday until its automated docking about 5 a.m. EDT. NASA TV begins its live coverage at 3:30 a.m.

Afterward, the duo will join Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Thomas Pesquet and Commander Akihiko Hoshide transferring cargo from the U.S. space freighter into the station. They will focus first on installing and activating new experiments researching rodents, microbes, sea life and plants.

Space biology studies help scientists understand how microgravity impacts a variety of life forms. This leads to new insights and developments that improve human health, innovate Earth industries and commercialize space.

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov are cleaning up today following a seven-hour and 19-minute spacewalk on Wednesday to ready the station’s Russian segment for a new module. The duo spent Friday servicing their Orlan spacesuit components and stowing their spacewalking tools.

The spacewalkers worked early Wednesday to deconfigure the Pirs docking compartment which will undock from the Zvezda service module after 20 years later this summer. This will open up Zvezda’s Earth-facing port for the arrival of Russia’s Nauka multipurpose laboratory module planned to arrive shortly after Pirs’ departure.

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Mark Garcia

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Cosmonauts Finish Spacewalk to Ready Station for New Module

Cosmonauts Finish Spacewalk to Ready Station for New Module

Pyotr Dubrov's helmet camera spots Oleg Novitskiy on the other end of the 46-foot-long (14 meters) Strela boom, a Russian crane, that the spacewalkers detached from the Pirs airlock.
Pyotr Dubrov’s helmet camera spots Oleg Novitskiy on the other end of the 46-foot-long (14 meters) Strela boom, a Russian crane, that the spacewalkers detached from the Pirs airlock.

Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos have completed a spacewalk lasting seven hours and 19 minutes.

The two cosmonauts opened the hatch to the Poisk docking compartment airlock to begin the spacewalk at 1:53 a.m. EDT. They re-entered the airlock and closed the hatch at 9:12 a.m.

During the spacewalk, the duo disconnected the external mechanical links between Pirs and the space station, relocated spacewalk hardware including a telescoping crane, and reconfigured antennas to prepare the Pirs module for undocking and disposal. Additionally, the cosmonauts replaced a fluid flow regulator panel on the nearby Zarya module, jettisoned the old panel as planned, and replaced biological and material science samples on the exterior of the Russian modules.

Pirs will be replaced by the new Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module, named “Nauka,” which is Russian for “science.” The undocking of Pirs is scheduled for this summer, about two days after Nauka launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

This was the first spacewalk for both cosmonauts and the 238th spacewalk overall in support of International Space Station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. It also marks the sixth spacewalk of 2021.

Learn more about station activities by following @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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Cosmonauts Exit Station and Begin Spacewalk

Cosmonauts Exit Station and Begin Spacewalk

Cosmonauts (from left) Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov are conducting their first career spacewalks together.
Cosmonauts (from left) Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov are conducting their first career spacewalks together.

Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos began a spacewalk when they opened the hatch of the Poisk docking compartment airlock of the International Space Station at 1:53 a.m. EDT.

Novitskiy is designated as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1) and is wearing a Russian Orlan spacesuit with red stripes. Dubrov is wearing a spacesuit with blue stripes as extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2).

Coverage of the spacewalk continues on NASA Television and the agency’s website. Views from a camera on Novitskiy’s helmet are designated with the number 20, and Dubrov’s is labeled with the number 18.

Learn more about station activities by following @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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NASA TV Broadcasts Russian Spacewalk at Station Early Wednesday

NASA TV Broadcasts Russian Spacewalk at Station Early Wednesday

Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko is pictured in an Orlan spacesuit with red stripes during a spacewalk in Dec. 11, 2018, to inspect the Soyuz MS-09 crew ship.
Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko is pictured in an Orlan spacesuit with red stripes during a spacewalk in Dec. 11, 2018, to inspect the Soyuz MS-09 crew ship.

Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos are scheduled to depart the International Space Station Wednesday for a spacewalk to continue preparing the Pirs docking compartment airlock for undocking and disposal later this year.

The duo will exit the space station’s Poisk docking compartment about 1:20 a.m. EDT tomorrow, signifying the start of their spacewalk, which is expected to last about six and a half hours. NASA will begin its live coverage on NASA Television and the agency’s website at 1 a.m.

The cosmonauts also plan to replace a fluid flow regulator on the nearby Zarya module and replace biological and material science samples on the exterior of the Russian modules.

This will be the 238th spacewalk overall in support of International Space Station assembly, and the first spacewalk for both Novitskiy and Dubrov, who arrived at the space station in April aboard the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship.

Novitskiy, who is designated as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), will wear a Russian Orlan spacesuit with red stripes. Dubrov will wear a spacesuit with blue stripes as extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2).

Learn more about station activities by following @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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