1. Space Station

Category Archives: Space Station

Christmas delivery finally arrives at the space station

Posted on by

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The six space station astronauts finally got their Christmas presents Sunday with the arrival of a privately launched supply ship that took an extra month to soar.

The spacemen opened the capsule a day early and started removing items, as soon as the Orbital Sciences Corp. vessel was moored safely at the International Space Station. Packed inside were 3,000 pounds of groceries, equipment and experiments, as well as eagerly awaited Christmas gifts from their families back home and some fresh fruit courtesy of NASA.

Among the first things out: ants that are part of an educational project.

NASA is relying on private industry to keep the orbiting lab well stocked in this post-shuttle era and, in three or four more years, possibly supply rides for U.S. astronauts as well. This was Orbital Sciences' second shipment.

The Virginia company was supposed to make the latest delivery last month, well before Christmas, but had to wait for reasons beyond its control. A space station breakdown in mid-December took priority, and NASA bumped the flight to January in order to repair the disabled cooling system at the orbiting outpost.

Then frigid weather at the launch site at Wallops Island, Va., forced a delay. Then a strong solar storm interfered. Everything finally came together for a smooth liftoff on Thursday.

Flight controllers for Orbital Sciences, wearing red company shirts, broke into applause when astronaut Michael Hopkins used the space station's main robot arm to grab onto the Cygnus capsule, more than 260 miles above the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar. Within two hours, the capsule was bolted to the station. And four hours after that, the astronauts threw open the hatch.

Because of the long day, the astronauts were supposed to wait until Monday before opening the capsule. But with presents from their families awaiting them, they couldn't resist.

As a holiday treat, NASA stashed away the fruit for the two Americans, three Russians and one Japanese, and Orbital Sciences included a few surprises of its own.

"It was difficult keeping up with you today," Mission Control radioed. "You guys were blazing."

Read more here:

Christmas delivery finally arrives at the space station

Space Station: Live Getting a U.S. Spacesuit Ready for a Spacewalk – Video

Posted on by


Space Station: Live Getting a U.S. Spacesuit Ready for a Spacewalk
Expedition 38 Flight Engineer Mike Hopkins downlinked a video description of a U.S. spacesuit Jan. 4. Hopkins and NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio conducted two spacewalks just before Christmas...

By: Waspie_Dwarf

Original post:

Space Station: Live Getting a U.S. Spacesuit Ready for a Spacewalk - Video

Cygnus arrives at International Space Station

Posted on by

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Christmas has finally arrived for the six space station astronauts.

A privately launched supply ship reached the International Space Station on Sunday morning, three days after blasting off from Virginia. The space station crew used a hefty robot arm to capture the Cygnus capsule as the two craft zoomed side by side at 17,500 mph.

The Cygnus is carrying 3,000 pounds of equipment and experiments for NASA, including ants for an educational project. Also on board: eagerly awaited Christmas presents from the families of all six spacemen as well as some fresh fruit courtesy of NASA.

NASA is relying on private industry to keep the orbiting lab well stocked in this post-shuttle era and, in four more years, possibly supply rides for U.S. astronauts as well.

Orbital Sciences Corp. was supposed to make the delivery last month, well before Christmas, but the Virginia company had to wait. A space station breakdown in mid-December took priority, and NASA bumped the flight to January in order to repair the disabled cooling system at the orbiting outpost. Then, frigid weather at the launch site forced a delay. Then a strong solar storm interfered.

Flight controllers for Orbital Sciences, wearing mostly red company shirts, broke into applause once robot arm operator Michael Hopkins grabbed onto the Cygnus, more than 260 miles above the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar. Within two hours, the capsule was bolted to the space station.

Because of the long day, the astronauts were supposed to wait until Monday before opening the hatch to Cygnus. But with presents from their families awaiting them, there was no telling whether they would oblige.

As a holiday treat, NASA stashed away the fruit for the two Americans, three Russians and one Japanese, and Orbital Sciences included a few surprises of its own.

This is the second visit by an Orbital Sciences cargo ship. The first was a test run last September; this one is the first official supply run under a $1.9 billion contract with NASA.

"I've been up here on station for about 3 1/2 months," Hopkins said, "and I've seen two Orbital vehicles in that time, and I think that's very impressive. So congratulations to everyone."

Read the original here:

Cygnus arrives at International Space Station

Kerbal Space Program – Apex Aeronautics [.23] – Episode 4 – Space Station Solar Arrays – Video

Posted on by


Kerbal Space Program - Apex Aeronautics [.23] - Episode 4 - Space Station Solar Arrays
This is the beginning of a new campaign I #39;ve started in Kerbal Space Program. I #39;m masquerading as Apex Aeronautics (a fictitious engineering company) led by ...

By: Shawn Miller

See original here:

Kerbal Space Program - Apex Aeronautics [.23] - Episode 4 - Space Station Solar Arrays - Video

Kerbal Space Program – Apex Aeronautics [.23] – Episode 6 – Space Station Communication Array – Video

Posted on by


Kerbal Space Program - Apex Aeronautics [.23] - Episode 6 - Space Station Communication Array
This is the beginning of a new campaign I #39;ve started in Kerbal Space Program. I #39;m masquerading as Apex Aeronautics (a fictitious engineering company) led by ...

By: Shawn Miller

Excerpt from:

Kerbal Space Program - Apex Aeronautics [.23] - Episode 6 - Space Station Communication Array - Video

The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth

Posted on by

"We catch a glimpse of a huge swirl of clouds out the window over the middle of the Pacific Ocean, or the boot of Italy jutting down into the Mediterranean, or the brilliant blue coral reefs of the Caribbean strutting their beauty before the stars. And...we experienced those uniquely human qualities: awe, curiosity, wonder, joy, amazement." (Russell L. Schweickart, Apollo Astronaut ("The Home Planet")

The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth hosts the best and most complete online collection of astronaut photographs of the Earth.

Beginning with the Mercury missions in the early 1960s, astronauts have taken photographs of the Earth. Our database tracks the locations, supporting data, and digital images for these photographs. We process images coming down from the International Space Station on a daily basis and add them to the 1,733,635 views of the Earth already made accessible on our website.

These images include 1,252,918 from the International Space Station. These numbers were determined 1/1/2014.

Join the conversation

Originally posted here:

The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth

Christmas gifts and ants rocket off to space station

Posted on by

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A privately launched supply ship rocketed toward the International Space Station on Thursday following a series of delays ranging from the cold to the sun.

Orbital Sciences Corp. launched its unmanned Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Va., offering a view to nearby states along the East Coast. It successfully hoisted a capsule packed with 3,000 pounds of equipment and experiments provided by NASA, as well as food and even some ants for an educational project. Christmas presents also are on board for the six space station residents; the delivery is a month late.

The spacecraft, named Cygnus, should reach the station on Sunday. The orbiting outpost was zooming over the Atlantic, near Brazil, when the Antares blasted off.

Its going to be an exciting weekend, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata said in a tweet from the space station.

The delivery had been delayed three times since December, most recently because of a strong solar storm. Engineers initially feared solar radiation might cause the rocket to veer off course. But additional reviews Wednesday deemed it an acceptable risk. Previous delays were due to space station repairs and frigid temperatures. Thursday was a relatively balmy 45 degrees.

NASA is paying Orbital Sciences and the SpaceX company to restock the space station. The Orbital Sciences contract alone is worth $1.9 billion.

This was Orbital Sciences second trip to the orbiting lab, but its first under the contract. The company conducted a successful test run last September. Two more trips are scheduled for this year. Orbital Sciences launches from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia, its corporate base. California-based SpaceX flies from Cape Canaveral. Its scheduled to make its fourth supply run next month.

The International Space StationPhoto: AFP/NASA

Great way to start out the new year were all smiles here, said Bill Wrobel, director of NASAs Wallops facility, after Thursdays launch.

The U.S., Russian and Japanese space station residents eagerly awaited the goodies inside the Cygnus. Their families included Christmas gifts; the Cygnus should have arrived in time for the holiday. NASA also tucked in some fresh fruit.

Link:

Christmas gifts and ants rocket off to space station

Cygnus headed to space station with food, clothing, and other supplies

Posted on by

After a series of delays, including a 24-hour slip prompted by a solar flare,Orbital Science's robotic Cygnus spacecraft is en route to the International Space Station.

The commercial spaceflight company Orbital Sciences Corp. launched a robotic spacecraft from Virginia's Eastern Shore Thursday (Jan. 9) on a milestone flight: the company's first official cargo delivery to the International Space Station.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

An Orbital-built Cygnus spacecraft launched into space atop the company's Antares rocket from a seaside pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. Liftoff occurred at 1:07 p.m. EST (1807 GMT) after a series of delays, including a 24-hour slip due to ahuge solar flare on Tuesday.

The Cygnus spacecraft is hauling about 2,780 lbs. (1,260 kilograms) of fresh food, clothing, scientific equipment and other gear for astronauts on the International Space Station. The mission, called Orb-1, is the first of at least eight cargo missions Orbital will fly for NASA under a $1.9 billion contract. [See more launch photos of Orbital's 1st Cygnus cargo mission]

"We are really looking forward to thisfirst Orbital cargo mission," Dan Hartman, NASA's deputy space station program manager, said in a prelaunch briefing this week.

The Cygnus spacecraft is due to arrive at the space station early Sunday (Jan. 12), where it will be captured by astronauts using a robotic arm and attached to a station docking port.

Orbital'sCygnus spacecraftare bus-size cylindrical vehicles designed to haul payloads of up to 4,400 lbs. (2,000 kg) to the International Space Station. They include an Orbital-built service module for power and propulsion and a 17-foot-long (5 meters) pressurized compartment built by Italy's Thales Alenia Space.

In April 2013, Orbital launched itsfirst Antares rocket test flightfrom Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. A second demonstration flight in September launched the first Cygnus vehicle to the space station. Pad-0A at Wallops is managed by Virginia's commercial Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

Go here to see the original:

Cygnus headed to space station with food, clothing, and other supplies

Obama administration approves space station extension, NASA says

Posted on by

The Obama administration has given NASA the go-ahead to operate the International Space Station through at least 2024, the agency announcedWednesday, allowing government and private-sector researchers to count on at least another decade of operations, officials said.

Bill Gerstenmaier, chief of space operations at NASA Headquarters, said the expanded lifetime will encourage increased commercial use of the lab complex, solidify the commercial launch market and provide critical insights into technology development and human physiology needed for eventual flights to deep space targets like Mars.

"This is a tremendous announcement for us here in the space station world and really for all of human spaceflight and the international partnership aboard the space station," he told reporters. "It's allowing us to have a planning horizon that is really 10 years long, it extends from 2014 now to at least 2024. That really changes the way folks see their investment, especially the commercial side."

Play Video

A three-man crew successfully brought the Olympic torch to the International Space Station. For safety reasons, the torch will not be lit.

The Obama administration canceled the Constellation moon program and ordered a dramatic change of course. NASA was told to develop commercial manned spacecraft to ferry crews to and from the station and to build a new heavy-lift rocket to propel Constellation program Orion capsules on deep space missions to nearby asteroids and, eventually, Mars.

At roughly the same time, the administration announced that it planned to extend the life of the International Space Station by at least five years, from 2015 to 2020.

Late last year, NASA, its prime contractor Boeing and the agency's international partners completed a detailed engineering analysis that showed the lab complex could be safely operated through 2020 and, with a bit of luck and continued funding, through 2028, the 30th anniversary of the start of station assembly.

Read the original here:

Obama administration approves space station extension, NASA says

NASA gets White House backing to extend space station by 4 years

Posted on by

WASHINGTON The world's most expensive science project the $100 billion-plus International Space Station is poised to get four more years in orbit.

According to documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, NASA plans to announce this week that it has White House approval to extend the station's operations by four years until 2024.

The decision follows years of pressure by top NASA officials, who consider the station a critical steppingstone to future exploration. But a four-year extension likely would cost NASA about $3 billion a year from 2021 to 2024. That's a major chunk of the agency's annual budget, which is now about $17 billion, and a longer mission could force NASA to make tough financial decisions in the future.

The administration's approval, however, doesn't guarantee that the station, which has been continuously occupied since 2000, will survive past its current end date of 2020. At some point, Congress must approve a NASA budget that includes an extension of the station's life. The plan also must get the support of whoever wins the White House in 2016 though the backing of President Barack Obama now might make it harder for the next administration to renege.

Still, the move is expected to reassure NASA's international partners, who have wondered how long the U.S. plans to commit to the station. NASA's announcement coincides with a visit to Washington this week by leaders of the world's space agencies.

"Arriving at this decision in a timely and coordinated fashion will, hopefully, prove beneficial to our international partners as they struggle with decisions on funding for their space programs," NASA Chief Charlie Bolden wrote in an email to NASA and administration officials that praised the decision.

The announcement also has the potential of sending a signal to China, NASA's latest cosmic competitor.

In 2003, China become just the third country to launch an astronaut into space, and Beijing reportedly is making plans to assemble its own space station next decade.

By keeping the space station operational, NASA can maintain its own symbol of technical advancement while limiting attempts by the Chinese to woo global partners for its own outpost.

The symbolism is especially important for NASA because of the agency's recent struggles with its human-exploration program.

Continue reading here:

NASA gets White House backing to extend space station by 4 years

ORLANDO SENTINEL EXCLUSIVE NASA gets White House backing to extend space station

Posted on by

WASHINGTON The world's most expensive science project the $100 billion-plus International Space Station is poised to get four more years in orbit.

According to documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, NASA plans to announce this week that it has White House approval to extend the station's operations by four years until 2024.

The decision follows years of pressure by top NASA officials, who consider the station a critical steppingstone to future exploration. But a four-year extension likely would cost NASA about $3 billion a year from 2021 to 2024. That's a major chunk of the agency's annual budget, which is now about $17 billion, and a longer mission could force NASA to make tough financial decisions in the future.

The administration's approval, however, doesn't guarantee that the station, which has been continuously occupied since 2000, will survive past its current end date of 2020. At some point, Congress must approve a NASA budget that includes an extension of the station's life. The plan also must get the support of whoever wins the White House in 2016 though the backing of President Barack Obama now might make it harder for the next administration to renege.

Still, the move is expected to reassure NASA's international partners, who have wondered how long the U.S. plans to commit to the station. NASA's announcement coincides with a visit to Washington this week by leaders of the world's space agencies.

"Arriving at this decision in a timely and coordinated fashion will, hopefully, prove beneficial to our international partners as they struggle with decisions on funding for their space programs," NASA Chief Charlie Bolden wrote in an email to NASA and administration officials that praised the decision.

The announcement also has the potential of sending a signal to China, NASA's latest cosmic competitor.

In 2003, China become just the third country to launch an astronaut into space, and Beijing reportedly is making plans to assemble its own space station next decade.

By keeping the space station operational, NASA can maintain its own symbol of technical advancement while limiting attempts by the Chinese to woo global partners for its own outpost.

The symbolism is especially important for NASA because of the agency's recent struggles with its human-exploration program.

Read the original here:

ORLANDO SENTINEL EXCLUSIVE NASA gets White House backing to extend space station


  1. Space Station