1. Space Station

Category Archives: Space Station

Cosmonauts on spacewalk to add lab to space station, NASA reports

Posted on by

Two spacewalking cosmonauts ( see spacewalk live here) are now preparing the outside of the International Space Station for the addition of a new Russian lab.

Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin began what is scheduled to be a 6-hour spacewalk at 9:32 a.m. EDT today. The cosmonauts are equipped with NASA helmet cameras to provide close-up views of their work.

The pair today are taking the first of what is expected to be many spacewalks to prepare the station for a planned replacing an older airlock with a new multipurpose laboratory module later this year.

The Russian Federal Space Agency plans to send the combination research facility, airlock and docking port to the station on a Proton rocket later this year, according to NASA.

During Monday's spacewalk, Yurchikhin and Misurkin are slated to replace a fluid flow control panel and install clamps so power cables can be installed on a future spacewalk. They also will retrieve several science experiments that have been attached on the outside orbiting station.

Today's spacewalk is the 169th in support of space station assembly and maintenance. It is the sixth spacewalk for Yurchikhin and the first for Misurkin, NASA noted.

This is the second of up to six Russian spacewalks planned for this year.

Two spacewalks by NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency are scheduled for July.

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin, or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her email address is sgaudin@computerworld.com.

Read more about government/industries in Computerworld's Government/Industries Topic Center.

More here:

Cosmonauts on spacewalk to add lab to space station, NASA reports

Russian astronauts take spacewalk at space station (Update)

Posted on by

Javascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript. In order to enable it, please see these instructions. 4 hours ago by Marcia Dunn In this frame grab from video provided by NASA, two Russian flight engineers perform maintenance on the International Space Station, Monday, June 24, 2013. The crew includes three Russians, two Americans and one Italian. The Italian and one American will conduct a pair of spacewalks for NASA in July. (AP Photo/NASA)

Two space station astronauts took care of a little outside maintenance Monday.

Russian flight engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin replaced a main valve on the International Space Station, after emerging from their 250-mile (400-kilometer)-high home.

"To save the time, I'm embroidering," one of the spacewalkers said in Russian, holding a clump of cord as he worked on the fluid valve. "It's not easy to handle all these ropes." Later, he added, "OK, now we're doing bead work."

Also on the spacewalkers' to-do list: installing clamps and retrieving science experiments. Some of the work will pave the way for the arrival of a new Russian compartment at the end of this year.

The year's third spacewalk was under the direction of Russian Mission Control outside Moscow. The four other space station residents monitored the action from inside.

Yurchikhin arrived at the space station just a few weeks ago. Misurkin has been on board since March.

The crew includes three Russians, two Americans and one Italian. The Italian and one American will conduct a pair of spacewalks for NASA in July.

Begun in 1998, the space station still is one room short.

The Russian Space Agency plans to launch a research lab to replace the Pirs air lock that has been in place since 2001. An unmanned Proton rocket will hoist the lab, which also will serve as an air lock for spacewalk preparations and a docking port for visiting craft. As for PirsRussian for pierit will be cut loose before the launch of its replacement and burn up upon re-entry as junk.

The rest is here:

Russian astronauts take spacewalk at space station (Update)

Photos: Cosmonauts Spacewalk Outside Space Station – June 24, 2013

Posted on by

Cosmonaut Outside International Space Station

A Russian spacewalker floats (partially obscured) outside the International Space Station on June 24, 2013 (EDT).

A cosmonaut brings a piece of equipment along with him (top center) as he maneuvers outside the International Space Station, June 24, 2013.

Two Russian spacewalkers exited the International Space Station on June 24, 2013 (EDT) for a spacewalk. One of them is seen at upper right. During the spacewalk, Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin will replace a fluid flow control valve panel on the Zarya module, test Kurs automated docking cables for the arrival of a new Russian laboratory module later this year and install clamps to later hold cables bringing power from the U.S. segment of the station to that new Russian module.

A view from a helmet camera one of the Russian cosmonauts shows the other Russian cosmonaut working outside the International Space Station on June 24, 2013 (EDT)

Two Russian cosmonauts ventured outside the International Space Station on June 24, 2013 to prepare the station's exterior for the arrival of a new Russian module.

Components and equipment of the International Space Station floats in front of a cosmonaut's helmet during a spacewalk on June 24, 2013 (EDT).

Russian cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Fyodor Yurchikhin finish replacing a fluid control valve panel on the outside of the International Space Station on June 24, 2013.

Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin catches sight of fellow cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin as they install a new piece of science hardware on the outside of the International Space Station. Image released on June 24, 2013.

Read more here:

Photos: Cosmonauts Spacewalk Outside Space Station - June 24, 2013

Stunning Solar Transits by China’s Space Station

Posted on by

From his vantage point from Southern France, ace astrophotographer Thierry Legault trained his Takahashi TOA-150 refracting telescope at the sun and, at precisely the right moment, captured the Chinese Tiangong-1 prototype space station (plus docked Shenzhou-10 module) as it transited the solar disk on June 16.

WATCH VIDEOS: The Solar System

The transit took less than half a second to complete as the Chinese outpost raced across the sky at an orbital velocity of 16,500 miles per hour. The station is at an altitude of around 230 miles.

The photograph above shows the "Star Wars" Tie Fighter-like silhouette of the solar paneled Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-10, home to 3 Chinese astronauts Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping. Through a white light filter, Legault also captured the fine detail of sunspots plus granulation in the sun's photosphere.

PHOTOS: Ten Cosmic Stunners to Point Your New Telescope At

In a second image taken on the following day (June 17), Legault used a hydrogen-alpha filter and snapped a series of images through the entire second transit of the space station. For this attempt he had a high-speed camera attached to the telescope, grabbing images at 38 frames per second.

Both images are a testament to Legault's astrophotgraphy skills, more of which can be seen on his website Astrophoto.fr.

Go here to read the rest:

Stunning Solar Transits by China's Space Station

Taikonaut Teaches Science on China’s Space Station

Posted on by

We may be familiar with the excellent series of experiments carried out by the likes of NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on the International Space Station, but now a second orbital outpost is getting in on the science outreach act.

Wang Yaping, Chinese astronaut (or taikonaut) and second Chinese woman in space, has held the nations first orbital classroom lesson onboard the Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace 1) module in an effort to boost the appeal of space science among schoolkids. The 33 year-old military pilot took questions live from 330 children who watched her inject floating spheres of water with air and spin pendulums to simulate orbits.

PHOTOS: Stunning Space Photos of the Week (June 8-14)

Wang was launched to the Chinese prototype space station on the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft with Nie Haisheng, 48, and Zhang Xiaoguang, 47, on June 11 and docked with the orbiting module two days later. The mission is expected to last 15 days.

China is going it alone in space as NASA is banned from working with the nation because of fears of the transfer of technologies. The Chinese space program is a huge source of pride that has seen a steady pace of progress culminating in their first man in space in 2003, first spacewalk in 2008 and now its first manned space station prototype is being inhabited for the longest period yet.

NEWS: China Launches to Prototype Space Station

There are calls to motivate a new cooperation between NASA, the international community and China in space, but it looks like the nation is doing pretty well without an international partnership.

So, as Wang Yaping demonstrated Thursday morning, microgravity lectures are no longer exclusive to the partners of the International Space Station.

Watch clips of Wangs lesson via the BBC.

Go here to read the rest:

Taikonaut Teaches Science on China's Space Station

Mold Fears for Space Station

Posted on by

The robotic European cargo ship Albert Einstein was opened Tuesday morning at the International Space Station, a day late because of concerns that mold may have grown inside the vehicle, NASA officials said.

The unmanned Einstein spacecraft docked at the space station Saturday, June 15, but it was not opened Monday as planned due to worries that the vehicle and its cargo had not been disinfected properly before launch. The opening of the spacecraft's hatch was moved back a day to allow the space station partner nations to discuss the situation; ultimately, the partners agreed to have the station crew disinfect 21 bags of cargo on the spaceship to ensure they were clean of mold.

Whether or not any mold actually grew on the robotic spacecraft is unclear. The concerns may have arisen because Russian space agency officials were dissatisfied with the decontamination procedures European engineers took to prepare the vehicle for flight, a European Space Agency official told NBC News. [Photos: Europe's ATVRoboticSpaceCargoShips]

Furthermore, the Russian concerns might have been focused on the documentation of the decontamination procedures rather than flaws in the procedures themselves, according to NBC News space analyst James Oberg.

"It's a well-established principle of spaceflight safety that, under uncertainty, you don't 'assume the best,' you makesurethe worst cannot be true," Oberg said, according to NBC News. "And if you're notsureyou decontaminated these items to rigorous standards, then you do it again, tomakesure."

Tiny lifeforms aren't unheard of on the space station in fact, they're often launched there on purpose for scientific experiments. One study on the International Space Station between 2006 and 2008, for instance, found that Salmonella bacteria grown there in microgravity were more virulent than their counterparts on Earth.

The Albert Einstein spacecraft, also known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-4, is making the second-to-last of five unmanned cargo delivery flights to the station planned by the European Space Agency. The spaceship, about the size of a London double-decker bus, was packed with food for the crew, science equipment and spare parts for the orbiting laboratory. It lifted off from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French GuianaJune 5.

Like the other ATV ships, Albert Einstein is disposable; it will burn up on purpose in Earth's atmosphere after leaving the station.

Six astronauts currently live and work on the International Space Station: three Russian cosmonauts, two NASA astronauts and one European astronaut from Italy, Luca Parmitano. Parmitano was especially looking forward to Albert Einstein's delivery of some Italian space food delicacies, such as tiramisu, that he's planning to share with his crewmates.

"Apart from the experiments, oxygen and water, ATV-4 also brings personal clothing and food, among which of course the culinary art of Italian cuisine will be a cherry on the cake," Parmitano wrote on his blog hosted by the European Space Agency."There is nothing like the promise of an Italian dinner that I will offer from my personal supply to entice my colleagues to work quickly and well!"

See original here:

Mold Fears for Space Station


  1. Space Station