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Astronaut Crew Launching to Space Station Today: Watch It Live

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A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying an American astronaut, an Italian astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut will launch on the second-ever express trip to the International Space Station today (May 28).

NASA's Karen Nyberg, the European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano and Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin are scheduled to launch to space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan onboard a Russian Soyuz spaceship at 4:31 p.m. EDT (2031 GMT), arriving at the space station about six hours later.

You can watch the launch and docking live on SPACE.com via NASA TV. Launch coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT) although it will be May 29 local time in Kazakhstan. Arrival coverage starts at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 May 29 GMT) with docking expected at 10:17 p.m. EDT (0217 GMT). [See Photos of the Expedition 36 Crew]

Nyberg, a veteran of a brief visit to the space station during a previous space shuttle flight, said she's looking forward to actually living in orbit this time. "I visited space station in 2008 on the space shuttle Discovery, and it was a very, very quick trip, only 14 days, and honestly, I don't really remember a lot of it because it just flew by so fast," Nyberg told SPACE.com.

Although Nyberg is beginning a long stay aboard the station (about six months), her trip to the orbiting outpost will be much quicker than usual. Usually it takes about two days for a Soyuz to reach the International Space Station, but the three astronauts launching today will need to make only four obits of the Earth before docking to the station's Poisk module.

"We will be doing four-orbit rendezvous, a quick rendezvous, it's so-called," Parmitano said in a pre-flight NASA interview. "Instead of waiting in orbit for two days before docking to the station after launch, right after launch we will get the spacecraft ready to just inject in higher orbit and then dock on the station, only six hours after launch."

Unmanned cargo ships do these express launches and dockings regularly, but this will mark just the second time a manned crew has flown to the station this quickly.

Parmitano, Yurchikhin and Nyberg will be able to compare notes about the quick trip with the three astronauts already onboard the space station. NASA's Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin were the first group to launch and dock to the station in six hours. Together, the six astronauts make up the station's Expedition 36 crew.

Cassidy, Vindogradov and Misurkin are expected to fly back to Earth in September, while Nyberg, Yurchikhin and Parmitano are scheduled to stay on the station until November.

Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter and Google+. Follow us on Twitter, Facebookand Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

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Astronaut Crew Launching to Space Station Today: Watch It Live

Spot the Space Station

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WASHINGTON Since November, NASA has a service to help people see theInternational Space Stationwhen it passes overhead. "Spot the Station" will send an email or text message to those who sign up for the service a few hours before they will be able to see the space station.

When the space station is visible typically at dawn and dusk it is the brightest object in the night sky, other than the moon. On a clear night, the station is visible as a fast moving point of light, similar in size and brightness to the planet Venus. "Spot the Station" users will have the options to receive alerts about morning, evening or both types of sightings.

The International Space Station's trajectory passes over more than 90 percent of Earth's population. The service is designed to only notify users of passes that are high enough in the sky to be easily visible over trees, buildings and other objects on the horizon. NASA's Johnson Space Center calculates the sighting information several times a week for more than 4,600 locations worldwide, all of which are available on "Spot the Station."

To sign up for "Spot the Station," visit:

http://spotthestation.nasa.gov

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Spot the Space Station

Astronaut packs crafts for space station trip

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Karen Nyberg / @AstroKarenN / NASA

NASA's Karen Nyberg sits in the Soyuz spacecraft that is scheduled to launch her and two other astronauts to the International Space Station on May 28. Image released on May 17, 2013.

By Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com

An American astronaut is about to get seriously crafty in space.

When NASA's Karen Nyberg, the European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin officially launch on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station on Tuesday, the American astronaut will bring a few key creative items with her.

"I actually enjoy sewing and quilting and I am bringing some fabric with me and thread and I'm hoping to create something," Nyberg said. "I don't know yet what it will be but that's part of creativity is that it comes with the feeling of the day so I have the supplies in my hands to create if I get the opportunity and the creative notion to do so." [Women in Space: A Gallery of Firsts (Photos)]

Although the six-month-stint will be Nyberg's longest in space, it is not her first time visiting the International Space Station.

"I'm looking forward to the most this time actually living there," Nyberg told SPACE.com. "I visited space station in 2008 on the space shuttle Discovery, and it was a very, very quick trip, only 14 days and honestly, I don't really remember a lot of it because it just flew on by so fast."

Nyberg, 43, is planning on sharing her experiences on board the station with the world using social media, although she has only be using Twitter (where she posts from the account @AstroKarenN) for a little over a month. She is also on Pinterest with the handle: knyberg.

Nyberg follows in a line of female astronauts who have spent time on board the International Space Station.

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Astronaut packs crafts for space station trip

Space station astronauts snap amazing photos of Alaskan volcanic eruption

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Pavlof Volcano has been erupting for over a week, releasing a humongous plume of ash, steam, and smoke visible from the International Space Station. The eruption has quieted down, but seismic data suggests that it's not over.

Astronauts on the International Space Stationcaptured jaw-dropping pictures of a volcanic eruption last Saturday. Since then, the volcano has been hidden from sight, shrouded in thick clouds.

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Pavlof Volcano has been belching ash and spewing lava since May 13, when tremors and rising surface temperatures gave way to fountains of molten rock bursting from the volcano's north flank.

When that lava hit ice and snow, it created explosive steam clouds that could be seen for dozens of miles and photographed from space. The steam, ash, and gas plumes have climbed over 20,000 feet into the sky, and left a grey streak stretching for a hundred miles.

Prior to last week, Pavlof hadn't erupted since 2007.

Pavlof has been playing it cool for the past few days, reports the Alaska Volcano Observatory, which celebrated its 25thanniversary last month.

Though the ash eruptions have disrupted local air travel, the violence seems to have subsided for now, with a more relaxed release of ash and lava continuing steadily. Even through the clouds hiding Pavlof from sight, satellites can measure high surface temperatures indicating that the lava is still flowing.

After about a week of steady seismic rumbles,the shaking calmed down on Tuesday morning and hasn't restarted, though a huge seismic blast this morning suggests that Pavlof had another volcanic explosion but through the clouds, it's hard to know just what or where.

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Space station astronauts snap amazing photos of Alaskan volcanic eruption

3D Printer Launching to Space Station in 2014

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A 3D printer is slated to arrive at the International Space Station next year, where it will crank out the first parts ever manufactured off planet Earth.

The company Made in Space is partnering with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on the 3D Printing in Zero G Experiment (or 3D Print for short), which aims to jump-start an off-planet manufacturing capability that could aid humanity's push out into the solar system.

"The 3D Print experiment with NASA is a step towards the future. The ability to 3D-print parts and tools on demand greatly increases the reliability and safety of space missions while also dropping the cost by orders of magnitude," Made in Space CEO Aaron Kemmer said in a statement. [10 Amazing 3D-Printed Objects]

"The first printers will start by building test coupons, and will then build a broad range of parts, such as tools and science equipment," he added.

The 3D printerisslated to blast off in August 2014, tagging along with a cargo mission private spaceflight company SpaceX is launching to the orbiting lab for NASA.

The device will build objects layer by layer out of polymers and other materials, using a technique called extrusion additive manufacturing. The blueprints for these objects will be pre-loaded onto a computer bound for the orbiting lab or uplinked from Earth, Made in Space officials said.

Advocates say 3D printing can help make living in space easier and cheaper. For example, more than 30 percent of the spare parts currently aboard the International Space Station can be manufactured by Made in Space's machine, company co-founder and chief technologist Jason Dunn told NASA chief Charles Bolden and congressman Mike Honda (D-Calif.) during a presentation today (May 24) at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

"3D printing is an exciting technology," Niki Werkheiser, 3D Print project manager at NASA Marshalls Technology Development and Transfer Office, said in a statement. "It will allow us to live and work in space with the same efficiency and productivity that we do on Earth, with the ultimate objective being to eliminate reliance on materials and parts launched from the ground."

While off-Earth manufacturing will get its start at the International Space Station, NASA officials say the technology's potential goes beyond low-Earth orbit. Werkheiser described 3D printing as "absolutely a critical enabler for NASAs exploration missions."

Indeed, NASA recently funded the development of a prototype 3D printer designed to make space food products out of cheap raw materials that have a long shelf life. This "3D pizza printer" could help feed astronauts on long space journeys, such as the 500-day trek to Mars, agency officials say.

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3D Printer Launching to Space Station in 2014


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