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Tag: International Space Station

  • International Space Station to renew spacewalks, six months after incident

    NASA has greenlit spacewalks exterior of the International Space Station after a flight readiness evaluation. Spacewalks have been suspended for practically seven months since March 23 when a small quantity of water was present in ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer’s helmet.

    “Crew safety is the top priority of NASA and our international partners. I’m proud of the space station and ground teams’ work to keep our crew members safe, for taking the time necessary to close out the investigation, and for continually findings ways to mitigate risks in human spaceflight,” mentioned Kathryn Lueders, affiliate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, in a press assertion.

    After Maurer’s spacewalk months in the past, the crew on the area station instantly eliminated his helmet and labored with NASA’s floor assist workforce to collect information on the problem. The American area company categorised the occasion as an in depth name and declared a cease to all pending spacewalks.

    Samples of the water and among the {hardware} in Maurer’s go well with have been despatched again to Earth with the Russian Soyuz 65S and NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission. The complete spacesuit was then returned with the SpaceX CRS-25 mission for detailed evaluation.

    What did the investigation reveal?

    After finishing an in depth take a look at and teardown of the area go well with, and evaluating the water samples and go well with {hardware} to see what occurred, NASA groups confirmed that there have been no {hardware} failures with the go well with.

    According to the area company, it’s probably that the surplus water within the spacesuit was fashioned by condensation because of the built-in methods performing a number of settings for crew exertion and crew cooling on the similar time.

    Along with updating operational procedures, area station groups have developed new mitigation {hardware} to cut back the chance of such condensation resulting in water accumulation, whereas additionally absorbing any water if it seems. NASA’s administration groups accepted the return to regular operations after the brand new operational procedures and mitigation {hardware} was added.

  • SpaceX capsule splashes down, returning 4 astronauts from Space Station

    The fourth long-duration astronaut workforce launched by SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) safely returned to Earth on Friday, splashing down within the Atlantic Ocean off Florida after practically six months of analysis aboard the orbital outpost.

    The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Freedom, carrying three U.S. NASA astronauts and an Italian crewmate from the European Space Agency, parachuted into the ocean on the conclusion of a five-hour autonomous flight house from the ISS.

    Splashdown underneath clear skies, at about 4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 GMT), was carried reside by a joint NASA-SpaceX webcast.

    Freedom started its keep in orbit on April 27. The crew consisted of NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, 49, fellow Americans Jessica Watkins, 34, and Bob Hines, 47, in addition to Italy’s Samantha Cristoforetti, 45, who was commander of their ISS expedition. Watkins grew to become the primary African-American lady to hitch a long-duration ISS mission.

    In lower than an hour, restoration groups had hoisted the heat-scorched Crew Dragon onto a retrieval vessel earlier than opening the capsule’s facet hatch and serving to the 4 astronauts out by one for his or her first breath of contemporary air in additional than 24 weeks.

    Still garbed of their helmeted white-and-black spacesuits, their energy and steadiness left shaky from 170 days of weightlessness, the 4 crew have been assisted onto particular gurneys as they waved and gave thumbs-up for cameras.

    Among these greeting them on the deck of the ship was the vessel’s namesake, veteran NASA astronaut Megan McArthur.

    Each of the returning astronauts was to obtain a routine medical checkup aboard the ship earlier than being flown by helicopter again to Florida.

    SCORCHING RE-ENTRY, THEN PARACHUTES

    The return from orbit adopted a fiery re-entry plunge by Earth’s environment producing frictional warmth that despatched temperatures exterior the capsule hovering to three,500 levels Fahrenheit (1,930 levels Celsius).

    Two units of parachutes billowed open above the capsule within the remaining stage of descent, slowing its fall to about 15 miles per hour (24 kph) earlier than the craft hit the water off Jacksonville, Florida.

    During their house station keep, the crew orbited Earth 2,720 instances – about as soon as each 90 minutes – to log some 72 million miles (116 million km) in house, based on NASA.

    The workforce was designated “Crew-4,” the fourth full-fledged long-duration group of astronauts launched to ISS by SpaceX because the non-public rocket firm based by Tesla Inc CEO Elton Musk started flying NASA personnel in May 2020.

    As for many ISS crews, their main mission was science-based, encompassing scores of experiments and expertise demonstrations.

    Highlights included analysis on microgravity-induced modifications in human cells resembling these related to getting old, and documenting results of dietary enhancements in orbit on immune operate, gastrointestinal well being and vitamin indicators.

    They additionally participated in research of fireside and gas habits in weightlessness, and cultivation of vegetation in liquid- and air-based development supplies instead of soil.

    Their exit got here every week after their substitute workforce, Crew-5, arrived aboard the station – a Russian cosmonaut, a Japanese astronaut and two NASA crewmates, together with the primary Native American lady in orbit.

    Crew-5 is remaining on ISS with two different Russians and a 3rd American who shared a Soyuz flight to the ISS in September. One of these cosmonauts, Serge Prokofiev, assumed ISS command from Cristoforetti earlier than Crew-4’s departure.

    ISS, spanning the size of a U.S. soccer subject, has been constantly occupied since 2000, operated by a U.S.-Russian-led partnership that features Canada, Japan and 11 European nations.

  • Russian spacewalk minimize quick by unhealthy battery in cosmonaut go well with

    A Russian spacewalker needed to rush again contained in the International Space Station on Wednesday when the battery voltage in his spacesuit all of a sudden dropped. Russian Mission Control ordered Oleg Artemyev, the station commander, to rapidly return to the airlock so he may hook his go well with to station energy. The hatch remained open as his spacewalking accomplice, Denis Matveev, tidied up outdoors.NASA mentioned neither man was ever in any hazard.

    Matveev, in reality, remained outdoors for one more hour or so, earlier than he, too, was ordered to wrap it up. Although Matveev’s go well with was fantastic, Russian Mission Control minimize the spacewalk quick since flight guidelines insist on the buddy system. The cosmonauts managed to put in cameras on the European Space Agency’s new robotic arm earlier than the difficulty cropped up, barely two hours right into a deliberate 6 1/2-hour spacewalk.“You know, the start was so excellent,” Matveev mentioned as he made his approach again inside, with a few of the robotic arm set up work left undone.

    The 36-foot (11-meter) robotic arm arrived on the area station final summer season aboard a Russian lab. NASA spacewalks, in the meantime, have been on maintain for months. In March, water seeped right into a German spacewalker’s helmet. It was not almost as a lot leakage as occurred in 2013 when an Italian astronaut virtually drowned, however nonetheless posed a security concern. In the sooner case, the water originated from the cooling system within the go well with’s undergarments. The spacesuit that malfunctioned in March shall be returned to Earth as early as this week in a SpaceX capsule, for additional investigation.

  • Russia to decide out of International Space Station after 2024

    Russia will decide out of the International Space Station after 2024 and concentrate on constructing its personal orbiting outpost, the nation’s newly appointed area chief stated Tuesday. Yuri Borisov, who was appointed earlier this month to steer the state-controlled area company Roscosmos, stated throughout a gathering with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia will fulfill its obligations to different companions on the International Space Station earlier than it leaves the challenge.

    “The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made,” Borisov stated. Borisov’s assertion reaffirmed earlier declarations by Russian area officers about Moscow’s intention to go away the area outpost after 2024.

    BREAKING: Russia will decide out of the International Space Station after 2024 and concentrate on constructing its personal orbiting outpost, the nation’s newly appointed area chief stated. https://t.co/c38istczel

    — The Associated Press (@AP) July 26, 2022

     

    It comes amid hovering tensions between Russia and the West over the Kremlin’s army motion in Ukraine. Despite the rift, NASA and Roscosmos made a deal earlier this month for astronauts to proceed using Russian rockets and for Russian cosmonauts to catch lifts to the International Space Station with SpaceX starting this fall. The settlement ensures that the area station will all the time have at the very least one American and one Russian on board to maintain either side of the orbiting outpost operating easily, in line with NASA and Russian officers.

    The swap had lengthy been within the works and was finalized regardless of frictions over Ukraine in an indication of continuous Russia-U.S. cooperation in area.

     

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  • First all-private astronaut crew aboard area station undocks for flight house

    The first all-private astronaut crew ever to fly aboard the International Space Station (ISS) departed the orbiting outpost on Sunday to start a descent again to Earth, capping a two-week science mission hailed as a milestone in industrial spaceflight.

    A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the four-man crew from the Houston-based startup firm Axiom Space undocked from the ISS at about 9:10 pm EDT to embark on a 16-hour return flight, a dwell NASA webcast confirmed.

    The Axiom astronauts, garbed of their helmeted white-and-black spacesuits, had been seen strapped into the crew cabin shortly earlier than the spacecraft separated from the station, orbiting some 250 miles (420 km) above Earth. A few temporary rocket thrusts then pushed the capsule safely away from the ISS.

    Watch Dragon and the Ax-1 astronauts depart the @space_station and return to Earth → https://t.co/N3MHSxCS0k https://t.co/JJxgD3B1rc

    — SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 25, 2022

    If all goes easily, the Dragon capsule, dubbed Endeavour, will parachute into the Atlantic off the coast of Florida on Monday round 1 pm EDT (1700 GMT).

    The flight house was postponed for a number of days attributable to unfavorable climate on the splashdown zone, extending the Axiom crew’s keep in orbit properly past its authentic departure date early final week.

    The multinational crew was led by Spanish-born retired NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, 63, Axiom’s vp for enterprise improvement. Larry Connor, 72, an actual estate-technology entrepreneur and aerobatics aviator from Ohio, was the second in command.

    Rounding out the Ax-1 crew had been investor-philanthropist and former Israeli fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe, 64, and Canadian businessman and philanthropist Mark Pathy, 52, each serving as mission specialists.
    Launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 8, they spent two weeks aboard ISS with the seven common, government-paid crew of the area station: three American astronauts, a German astronaut and three Russian cosmonauts.

    The Axiom quartet turned the primary all-commercial astronaut crew ever launched to the area station, taking with them tools for 2 dozen science experiments, biomedical analysis and expertise demonstrations to conduct in orbit.

    Axiom, NASA and SpaceX have touted the mission as a turning level within the enlargement of privately funded space-based commerce, constituting what business insiders name the “low-Earth orbit economy,” or “LEO economy” for brief.

    Ax-1 marks the sixth human spaceflight SpaceX has launched in practically two years, following 4 NASA astronaut missions to the ISS, plus the Inspiration 4 flight in September, which despatched an all-civilian crew into Earth orbit for the primary time, although to not the area station.

    SpaceX, the non-public rocket firm based by Tesla Inc electrical carmaker CEO Elon Musk, has been contracted to fly three extra Axiom astronaut missions to the ISS over the subsequent two years. The price ticket for such outings stays excessive.

    Axiom fees clients $50 million to $60 million per seat, in response to Mo Islam, head of analysis for the funding agency Republic Capital, which holds stakes in each Axiom and SpaceX.

    Axiom additionally was chosen by NASA in 2020 to construct a brand new industrial addition to the area station, which a US-Russian-led consortium of 15 international locations has operated for greater than 20 years. Plans name for the Axiom section to ultimately exchange the ISS when the remainder of the area station is retired round 2030.

  • Space station’s first all-private astronaut workforce docked to orbiting platform

    The first all-private workforce of astronauts ever launched to the International Space Station (ISS) arrived safely on the orbiting analysis platform on Saturday to start a week-long science mission hailed as a milestone in industrial spaceflight.

    The rendezvous took place 21 hours after the four-man workforce representing Houston-based startup firm Axiom Space Inc lifted off on Friday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, using atop a SpaceX-launched Falcon 9 rocket.

    The Crew Dragon capsule lofted to orbit by the rocket docked with the ISS at about 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) on Saturday as the 2 area autos had been flying roughly 250 miles (420 km) above the central Atlantic Ocean, a dwell NASA webcast of the coupling confirmed.

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    The closing strategy was delayed by a technical glitch that disrupted a video feed used to watch the capsule’s rendezvous with ISS. The snafu compelled the Crew Dragon to pause and maintain its place 20 meters away from the station for about 45 minutes whereas mission management trouble-shooted the difficulty.

    With docking achieved, it was anticipated to take about two hours extra for the sealed passageway between the area station and crew capsule to be pressurized and checked for leaks earlier than hatches could be opened, permitting the newly arrived astronauts to come back aboard ISS.

    The multinational Axiom workforce, planning to spend eight days in orbit, was led by retired Spanish-born NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, 63, the corporate’s vice chairman for enterprise growth.

    His second-in-command was Larry Connor, an actual property and know-how entrepreneur and aerobatics aviator from Ohio designated because the mission pilot. Connor is in his 70s however the firm didn’t present his exact age.

    Rounding out the Ax-1 crew had been investor-philanthropist and former Israeli fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe, 64, and Canadian businessman and philanthropist Mark Pathy, 52, each serving as mission specialists.

    Stibbe grew to become the second Israeli to fly to area, after Ilan Ramon, who perished with six NASA crewmates within the 2003 area shuttle Columbia catastrophe.

    They shall be becoming a member of the present ISS occupants of seven common, government-paid area station crew members – three American astronauts, a German astronaut from the European Space Agency and three Russian cosmonauts.

    SCIENCE FOCUSED

    The new arrivals introduced with them two dozen science and biomedical experiments to conduct aboard ISS, together with analysis on mind well being, cardiac stem cells, most cancers and growing older, in addition to a know-how demonstration to supply optics utilizing the floor rigidity of fluids in microgravity.

    The mission, a collaboration amongst Axiom, Elon Musk’s rocket firm SpaceX and NASA, has been touted by all three as a serious step within the enlargement of space-based industrial actions collectively referred to by insiders because the low-Earth orbit financial system, or “LEO economy” for brief.

    NASA officers say the pattern will assist the U.S. area company focus extra of its assets on big-science exploration, together with its Artemis program to ship people again to the moon and in the end to Mars.

     

    While the area station has hosted civilian guests on occasion, the Ax-1 mission marks the primary all-commercial workforce of astronauts despatched to ISS for its meant objective as an orbiting analysis laboratory.

    The Axiom mission additionally stands as SpaceX’s sixth human area flight in almost two years, following 4 NASA astronaut missions to the area station and the “Inspiration 4” launch in September that despatched an all-civilian crew to orbit for the primary time. That flight didn’t dock with ISS.

    Axiom executives say their astronaut ventures and plans to construct a non-public area station in Earth orbit go far past the astro-tourism companies supplied to rich thrill-seekers by such corporations as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, owned respectively by billionaire entrepreneurs Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson.

  • SpaceX delivers Raja Chari-led crew of 4 to station, ‘glorious sight’

    It took 21 hours for the flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to the glittering outpost.
    The one German and three U.S. astronauts mentioned it was an emotional second after they first noticed the area station 20 miles (30 kilometres) distant — “a pretty glorious sight,” in line with Raja Chari, commander of the Dragon capsule.
    “Floating in space and shining like a diamond,” famous German astronaut Matthias Maurer. “We’re all very thrilled, very excited.”
    The Dragon’s whole flight was automated, with Chari and pilot Tom Marshburn monitoring the capsule techniques, able to take management if vital. At one level, they reported what regarded like a “gnarled knob” or presumably a small mechanical nut floating previous their digital camera’s area of view, however SpaceX Mission Control mentioned it posed no concern. The docking occurred 263 miles (423 kilometers) above the japanese Caribbean.
    The station’s welcoming committee consisted of three astronauts as a substitute of the initially deliberate seven. That’s as a result of SpaceX returned 4 of the station residents on Monday, after the brand new arrivals’ launch stored getting delayed.

    “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see these smiling faces,” NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei mentioned after embracing every of the newcomers. “Every one of us, all seven of us, are friends, and we’re going to become even better friends as time goes on.”
    Vande Hei and one of many two Russians on board are halfway by a one-year mission that gained’t finish till March.
    While Chari, Marshburn, Maurer and NASA astronaut Kayla Barron have been adapting to weightlessness — all however Marshburn are area rookies — the earlier crew was adjusting to life again on Earth. “Gravity sucks, but getting used to it slowly,” Japanese astronaut Akihoki Hoshide tweeted.
    The new crew will spend the subsequent six months on the area station and, throughout that point, host two teams of visiting vacationers. Russia will launch the primary bunch in December and SpaceX the second in February.

  • “There is contact!” -Russia’s new Nauka house module docks with ISS

    Russia upgraded its capabilities on the International Space Station on Thursday after its new Nauka module, set to function a analysis lab, storage unit and airlock, efficiently docked with it after a nervy journey from Earth.
    A stay broadcast from Russia’s house company, Roscosmos, confirmed the module, a multipurpose laboratory named after the Russian phrase for ‘science’, docking with the ISS at 1329 GMT, a couple of minutes later than scheduled.
    “According to telemetry data and reports from the ISS crew, the onboard systems of the station and the Nauka module are operating normally,” Roscosmos mentioned in a press release.
    “There is contact!!!” Dmitry Rogozin, the top of Roscosmos, wrote on Twitter moments after the docking.
    Since it launch final week from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome, the module had suffered a collection of glitches that had raised issues about whether or not the docking process would go easily.

    Thursday’s growth suggests Russia is concerned with sustaining the ISS regardless of earlier feedback from Rogozin who final month urged Moscow would withdraw from it in 2025 until Washington lifted sanctions on the house sector that he mentioned had been hampering Russian satellite tv for pc launches. learn extra
    Launched in 1998, the ISS is a multinational mission and contains two segments, a Russian one and one other one utilized by the United States and different house companies.
    “After its commissioning, the Russian segment will receive additional room for arranging workplaces, storing cargo and housing water and oxygen regeneration equipment,” Roscosmos mentioned its assertion.

  • NASA sends squid from Hawaii into area for analysis

    Dozens of child squid from Hawaii are in area for examine.
    The child Hawaiian bobtail squid have been raised on the University of Hawaii’s Kewalo Marine Laboratory and have been blasted into area earlier this month on a SpaceX resupply mission to the International Space Station.
    Researcher Jamie Foster, who accomplished her doctorate on the University of Hawaii, is finding out how spaceflight impacts the squid in hopes of bolstering human well being throughout lengthy area missions, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Monday.
    The squid have a symbiotic relationship with pure micro organism that assist regulate their bioluminescence.

    When astronauts are in low gravity their physique’s relationship with microbes modifications, stated University of Hawaii professor Margaret McFall-Ngai, who Foster studied underneath within the Nineteen Nineties.
    “We have found that the symbiosis of humans with their microbes is perturbed in microgravity, and Jamie has shown that is true in squid,” stated McFall-Ngai. “And, because it’s a simple system, she can get to the bottom of what’s going wrong.”

    Foster is now a Florida professor and principal investigator for a NASA program that researches how microgravity impacts the interactions between animals and microbes.
    “As astronauts spend more and more time in space, their immune systems become what’s called dysregulated. It doesn’t function as well,” Foster stated. “Their immune systems don’t recognize bacteria as easily. They sometimes get sick.”
    Foster stated understanding what occurs to the squid in area may assist resolve well being issues that astronauts face.

    “There are aspects of the immune system that just don’t work properly under long-duration spaceflights,” she stated. “If humans want to spend time on the moon or Mars, we have to solve health problems to get them there safely.”
    The Kewalo Marine Laboratory breeds the squid for analysis initiatives around the globe. The tiny animals are plentiful in Hawaiian waters and are about 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) lengthy as adults.
    The squid will come again to Earth in July.

  • ISS swells to 11, greatest house station crowd in decade after SpaceX arrival

    The International Space Station’s inhabitants swelled to 11 on Saturday with the jubilant arrival of SpaceX’s third crew capsule in lower than a 12 months.
    It’s the most important crowd up there in additional than a decade.
    All of the astronauts — representing the US, Russia, Japan and France — managed to squeeze into digicam view for a congratulatory name from the leaders of their house companies.
    “In this tough situation around the world, I believe you have brought courage and hope for all of us,” Japanese Space Agency President Hiroshi Yamakawa mentioned from his nation’s flight management heart, referring to the worldwide pandemic.

    A recycled SpaceX capsule carrying 4 astronauts arrived on the house station a day after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The Dragon capsule docked autonomously with the orbiting outpost greater than 260 miles (420 kilometers) above the Indian Ocean. The hatches swung open a pair hours later, uniting all 11 house vacationers.
    “Man, it is awesome to see the 11 of you on station,” mentioned NASA’s appearing administrator, Steve Jurczyk. He famous that this would be the norm, now that SpaceX is often flying crews.

    Speaking to a full home, appearing NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk congratulates Crew-2 on their arrival for an thrilling expedition aboard the @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/cjyfgQE2GH
    — NASA (@NASA) April 24, 2021
    The newcomers will spend six months on the house station. They’ll substitute 4 astronauts who will return to Earth in their very own Dragon capsule Wednesday to finish a half-year mission. NASA intentionally deliberate for a short overlap so the outgoing SpaceX crew may present the brand new arrivals round.
    Although this was SpaceX’s third crew flight for NASA, it was the primary to make use of a automobile that’s flown earlier than, a necessary a part of Musk’s push to the moon and Mars. The Dragon capsule was used for SpaceX’s first crew launch final May, whereas the Falcon rocket hovering Friday hoisted crew two in November.

    “Endeavour arriving!” Welcome to the @Space_Station, Crew-2!
    Their arrival means there are actually 11 people aboard our orbiting laboratory, a quantity not seen for the reason that house shuttle period. Hugs abound. pic.twitter.com/uSwW3JFl6K
    — NASA (@NASA) April 24, 2021
    It was the primary time two SpaceX crew Dragons had been parked there on the identical time — virtually aspect by aspect.
    NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur — the commander and pilot of the returning Dragon — monitored their capsule’s flat display screen computer systems throughout the morning rendezvous. They may have taken management if vital, however the autonomous system did its job, very like a self-driving automobile.
    Also checking into the house station: France’s Thomas Pesquet and Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide. Both have lived there earlier than, as has Kimbrough. But it was the primary station go to for McArthur. She flew up in the identical seat and the identical capsule — named Endeavour — as her husband, Bob Behnken, did on SpaceX’s debut crew mission.
    The European Space Agency’s director common, Josef Aschbacher, joked that the house station wants growth with so many on board.
    Pesquet — the primary European to fly on a industrial crew capsule — famous that the house station has modified fairly a bit since his final go to 4 years in the past, with extra folks and forms of spacecraft.
    “We’re so happy to see our friends,” he mentioned. “We wish we could keep them a little bit longer, but not too long as well, because 11 people is a lot on a space station.”
    The all-time report is 13, set throughout NASA’s house shuttle period.

    The present inhabitants consists of six Americans, two Russians, two Japanese and one French. It will shrink by 4 on Wednesday when three Americans and one Japanese depart for residence and a splashdown within the Gulf of Mexico.
    NASA turned to non-public firms for house station deliveries after the shuttles retired in 2011. SpaceX started provide runs in 2012, honing its abilities earlier than launching astronauts and ending NASA’s reliance on Russia. NASA additionally employed Boeing for taxi service, however the firm’s Starliner capsule isn’t anticipated to fly astronauts till subsequent 12 months.