China will launch a spacecraft this month to conduct its first manned space docking, state media said Saturday, the latest step in a plan aimed at giving the country a permanent space station by 2020.
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Category Archives: Space Station
Teen sends jumping spiders into space
Spiders in space
Spiders in space
Spiders in space
Spiders in space
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Editor's note: Each month, Inside the Middle East takes you behind the headlines to see a different side of this diverse region.
Alexandria, Egypt (CNN) -- Can jumping spiders still hunt for their prey in space?
It may sound like science fiction or the start of a bad joke, but this is an experiment that will be carried out on the International Space Station later this year, thanks to Egyptian teenager Amr Mohamed.
Mohamed, 19, from Alexandria, came up with one of the two winning entries from around the world for the YouTube Space Lab competition, backed by Professor Stephen Hawking, which asked students to design experiments for space scientists.
The idea behind Mohamed's experiment is to study how the zebra spider, which jumps on its prey rather than building a web, will hunt when it is in zero gravity.
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Livermore students hook up with space station astronauts
LIVERMORE -- One day before summer vacation, students at Junction Avenue K-8 School got to interact with four astronauts -- one in person and the other three via a live feed from the International Space Station.
The whole school had been preparing for Wednesday morning's event by incorporating NASA-related lessons. For instance, first grade students learned about local former astronauts such as Tammy Jernigan, who was the master of ceremonies at the event.
The three astronauts on the overhead projector were dressed casually as they bobbed up and down in zero gravity among a backdrop of gadgets. They each answered questions from the students, letting the mic glide slowly through the air when they passed it.
"For astronaut Joe: Are you conducting any experiments that will help us here on Earth relating to energy conservation, waste reduction, or other issues?" asked Jessica, a sixth grader.
"Well, that's a great question; just living on the space station, we're doing a little bit of both," said Joseph Acaba, the first astronaut of Puerto Rican heritage who answered questions in Spanish and English. "We have solar arrays to get power from the sun. For our water, we recycle. What we might be urinating today, we'll be drinking shortly."
Cue student laughter as Dutch Astronaut Andr Kuipers pulled out his water container and took a swig.
"I can assure you that the only people having more fun than the students during
Another student asked astronaut Don Pettit about his efforts to grow plants on the station.
"We're not using hydroponics; we're using aeroponics," said Pettit, referring to a method of growing plants using bags full of humid air that encompass the roots.
The moisture that is injected into the bag is enriched with space compost made from astronaut leftovers. Pettit described how he is growing broccoli, sunflower and zucchini.
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Back on Earth, SpaceX planning more private flights to space
The Hawthorne firm, celebrating its mission to the International Space Station, now turns to sending astronauts as well as cargo, and to building a huge new rocket to launch U.S. security satellites. SpaceX, the upstart Hawthorne company that shot a capsule to the International Space Station and back this week, won't have much time to savor its first major success.
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Back on Earth, SpaceX planning more private flights to space
SpaceX Dragon Leaves Space Station | Video – Video
31-05-2012 10:25 The crew of the ISS de-mated and hoisted the Dragon capsule away from the station with the Canadarm2 robotic arm and released it jn preparation for its re-entry on May 31, 2012.
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Superheroes in space: astronauts to see 'Avengers'
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will soon get a special screening of "The Avengers," the blockbuster movie about superheroes defending Earth from aliens.
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Space Shuttle Replica is 'Go' for Docking in Houston Lake
A full-scale replica of a NASA space shuttle will come into dock Friday (June 1), but rather than pull into a space station, it will arrive at port in a Texas lake near the space agency's Houston space center.
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Astronaut to Take 1st Transit of Venus Pictures From Space
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will have a unique vantage point for next week's transit of Venus, a stunning and rare event when Venus will appear as a tiny black dot on the sun as it crosses in front of our nearest star.
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SpaceX cargo ship departs station for Pacific splashdown
Wrapping up a successful test flight, a SpaceX cargo ship was detached from the International Space Station early Thursday, setting up a Pacific Ocean splashdown off the Baja California peninsula.
Space station astronauts unbolted a commercial cargo ship early Thursday, used the lab's robot arm to pull it away and released it into open space to set the stage for re-entry and splashdown off the Baja California peninsula to close out a successful test flight and set the stage for the start of routine cargo delivery missions later this year.
With the space station's Canadian-built robot arm locked onto the Dragon cargo craft, four gangs of motorized bolts holding the capsule in place were driven out, releasing the spacecraft from Harmony's Earth-facing port at 4:07 a.m. EDT (GMT-4).
A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule moves away from the International Space Station early Thursday in this view from a camera on the end of the lab's robot arm.
Flight engineer Joseph Acaba, operating the robot arm from a computer work station inside the lab's multi-window cupola compartment, pulled the Dragon capsule away, moving it to a pre-determined release point well away from station structure.
One orbit later, Acaba and flight engineer Donald Pettit released the spacecraft, opening snares in the arm's latching end effector at 5:49 a.m. as the space station sailed 250 miles above the southern Indian Ocean. SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, Calif., working in concert with NASA's flight control team at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, then monitored three quick rocket firings to begin Dragon's departure and eventual descent to Earth.
Within 11 minutes or so, the capsule was outside a pre-defined safety zone around the space station and SpaceX assumed full responsibility for the remainder of the mission.
The Dragon cargo ship moments after it was unbolted from the space station's forward Harmony module.
"The departure sequence is fairly quick, it's a three-burn series, two small burns then one big burn," said NASA Flight Director Holly Ridings. "The Dragon will head away from the space station outside the integrated space and that'll be the end of our integrated activity with the SpaceX/Dragon team. That process is 10 or 11 minutes after the release time."
"So again, very quick, very different from rendezvous day when we spent a lot of time in integrated space. The Dragon will head on out and be on its own in terms of the Dragon team controlling and managing the rest of the activities through the day."
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SpaceX capsule returns to Earth, ends historic trip to space station with Pacific splashdown
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The SpaceX Dragon capsule parachuted into the Pacific on Thursday to conclude the first private delivery to the International Space Station and inaugurate NASA's new approach to exploration.
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SpaceX capsule returns to Earth, ends historic trip to space station with Pacific splashdown
SpaceX's Private Dragon Supply Ship Departs Space Station
The world's first commercial space cargo ship, the unmanned Dragon capsule, cast off from the International Space Station today (May 31) as it prepares to return to Earth.
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Space-X’s Dragon Rocket Makes Splash-Down
Posted on: 3:49 pm, May 31, 2012, by Staff Writer, updated on: 04:16pm, May 31, 2012
(CNN) The first commercial mission to the International Space Station ended Thursday with the SpaceX Dragon capsule splashing down after a flight the companys founder declared a grand slam.
The Dragon drifted beneath parachutes to the surface of the Pacific Ocean, about 560 miles off Baja California, on Thursday morning. It hit the water about a mile from its target, SpaceX founder Elon Musk told reporters.
This has been a fantastic day, Musk said, adding, Im just overwhelmed with joy. He said recovery crews have reached the capsule and report it looks really good.
Splashdown came at 8:42 a.m. (11:42 a.m. ET), about two minutes earlier than expected, SpaceX and NASA reported. Musk was on hand at the companys mission control center near Los Angeles as operators monitored the descent, and called the mission a grand slam in a briefing later Thursday.
Splashdown came nine days after it took off on its historic mission, during which it delivered food, clothing, computer equipment and supplies for science experiments to the orbital platform and returned with about 1,300 pounds of cargo everything from trash to scientific research and experimental samples.
The space stations robotic arm released the Dragon at 5:35 a.m. ET. A thruster burn a minute later pushed the spacecraft away from its host, according to SpaceX, the private company that built and operates the vessel.
Alan Lindenmoyer, NASAs head of commercial space systems, said the space agency is waiting to recover the spacecrafts cargo and will review post-flight reports. But he told Musk, We became a customer today. Weve been waiting for this day, and it certainly is a tremendous day, Lindenmoyer said. Were looking forward now to routine, regular cargo service.
Space analyst Miles OBrien said the flight was a demonstration of the companys capabilities, and the spacecraft wasnt carrying critical equipment or supplies.
If none of this cargo had gone up or down, the show would have gone on, said OBrien, a former CNN correspondent. Its next mission, expected later this year, will be a for-real cargo with mission-critical items.
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SpaceX Dragon Safely Splashes Down After Trip To Space Station
After a successful trip to the International Space Station, the SpaceX Dragon craft successfully de-coupled from the Station in the early hours of the morning and began its descent towards the Pacific Ocean. The ship, which is loaded with cargo loaded up by the space station astronauts, safely splashed down in the ocean at 11:42 am EDT today.
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SpaceX Dragon Safely Splashes Down After Trip To Space Station
Dragon space capsule splashes down
SpaceX Dragon spashes down
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) -- The first commercial mission to the International Space Station ended Thursday with the SpaceX Dragon capsule splashing down after a flight the company's founder declared a "grand slam."
The Dragon drifted beneath parachutes to the surface of the Pacific Ocean, about 560 miles off Baja California, on Thursday morning. It hit the water about a mile from its target, SpaceX founder Elon Musk told reporters.
"This has been a fantastic day," Musk said, adding, "I'm just overwhelmed with joy." He said recovery crews have reached the capsule and report it "looks really good."
Splashdown came at 8:42 a.m. (11:42 a.m. ET), about two minutes earlier than expected, SpaceX and NASA reported. Musk was on hand at the company's mission control center near Los Angeles as operators monitored the descent, and called the mission a "grand slam" in a briefing later Thursday.
Splashdown came nine days after it took off on its historic mission, during which it delivered food, clothing, computer equipment and supplies for science experiments to the orbital platform and returned with about 1,300 pounds of cargo -- everything from trash to scientific research and experimental samples.
The space station's robotic arm released the Dragon at 5:35 a.m. ET. A thruster burn a minute later pushed the spacecraft away from its host, according to SpaceX, the private company that built and operates the vessel.
Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA's head of commercial space systems, said the space agency is waiting to recover the spacecraft's cargo and will review post-flight reports. But he told Musk, "We became a customer today." "We've been waiting for this day, and it certainly is a tremendous day," Lindenmoyer said. "We're looking forward now to routine, regular cargo service."
Space analyst Miles O'Brien said the flight was a demonstration of the company's capabilities, and the spacecraft wasn't carrying critical equipment or supplies.
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Space station crew setting the Dragon free
The Dragon space capsule returned to Earth from the International Space Station, capping off its historic mission with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. NBC's Mark Barger reports.
By Alan Boyle
SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule parachuted to a picture-perfect splashdown in the Pacific Ocean today, ending the first-ever commercial mission to the International Space Station.
The gumdrop-shaped Dragon made history last week as the first U.S. craft to reach the orbital station since last year's retirement of the space shuttle fleet, and it made history today as the first commercial craft to return a shipment from orbit.
SpaceX's 40-year-old billionaire founder, Elon Musk, told reporters that the nine-day space station resupply mission was "like a grand slam" in baseball, and repeatedly voiced joy and surprise at how well it went."There are a thousand ways that it could fail, so this may sound sort of odd, but when you see it actually work, you're sort of surprised," he said.
The 14.4-foot-high (4.4-meter-high) capsule came down about 560 miles west of Baja California, within a mile of its target point, Musk said. When he saw the first pictures of the craft bobbing in the Pacific, he said his reaction was, "Welcome home, baby. ... It's like seeing your kid come home."
Michael Altenhofen / SpaceX via AP
A photo from SpaceX shows the Dragon spacecraft floating on the surface of the Pacific Ocean about 500 miles west of Mexico's Baja California today.
The demonstration flight will almost certainly earn a go-ahead for SpaceX to start space station resupply missions in earnest under the terms of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. Alan Lindenmoyer, manager of NASA's commercial crew and cargo program, said a few more items needed to be marked off on the list of criteria, but he voiced nearly as much satisfaction about the results as Musk did.
"It is very easy to see that this satisfies, I believe, 100 percent of those criteria," he said.
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Dragon capsule readied for space station departure
Space station astronauts readied the world's first commercial supply ship Wednesday for its early morning return to Earth just like NASA's old-time capsules.
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First privately owned capsule docks at International Space Station
Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Reuters Published Friday, May. 25, 2012 10:41AM EDT Last updated Saturday, May. 26, 2012 2:33PM EDT
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured Space Exploration Technologies Dragon cargo ship and guided it into a berth on Friday, docking the first privately owned vehicle to reach the orbital outpost.
Using the stations 17.7-metre robotic crane, NASA astronaut Don Pettit snared Dragon at 9:56 a.m. EDT as the two spacecraft zoomed 400 kilometres over northwest Australia at 28,164 kilometres per hour.
It looks like weve got us a dragon by the tail, Mr. Pettit radioed to NASA Mission Control in Houston.
The capsule, built and operated by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is the first of two new commercial freighters NASA will use to fly cargo to the $100-billion outpost following the retirement of the space shuttles last year.
The United States plans to buy commercial flight services for its astronauts as well, breaking Russias monopoly on flying crews to the station.
Dragon blasted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Tuesday. The space station crew anchored it into the stations Harmony connecting node around noon on Friday.
After a successful pass by the station on Thursday to test its navigation and communications systems, Dragon proceeded at a snails pace on Friday, stopping, starting and occasionally retreating to make sure it could be controlled.
At one point, the SpaceX ground operations team in Hawthorne, California, halted Dragon to adjust the capsules laser imaging system, which it uses to see the station. Sensors were picking up stray reflections from the stations Japanese module, said NASA mission commentator Josh Byerly.
Dragon ended up using just one of its two laser imaging systems for the final approach to the station, a bit dicey because a failure would have triggered an automatic abort.
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First privately owned capsule docks at International Space Station
SpaceX's Private Dragon Capsule Returns to Earth Thursday
After a more than a week in orbit, the private space capsule Dragon is preparing to return to Earth from the International Space Station and cap off its historic mission with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
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SpaceX Dragon prepares to leave space station
US company SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship is preparing to make its return journey to Earth after a landmark mission to the International Space Station, NASA and SpaceX representatives said Wednesday.
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SpaceX successfully blasts off to Space Station
William Atkins Tuesday, 22 May 2012 21:52
Science - Space
Page 1 of 2
The SpaceX Dragon space capsule was successfully launched early in the morning of Tuesday, May 22, 2012, for its historic mission to the International Space Station the first trip to the ISS for a commercial space vehicle.
Then, at 3:44:38 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) the calm was disrupted as the9 first-stage engines of the Falcon 9 burst alive beginning an historic flight of the first commercial spacecraft to the Space Station.
The rocket was released from launch complex 41 (LC-41) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is located next to the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, and quickly thrust the Dragon spacecraft upward into the sky
SpaceX mission controllers reported no significant problems leading up to the launch and the first-stage engines burned normally for about three minutes.
They then shut down in a pre-programmed sequence after sending the spacecraft on a northeasterly trajectory. The first stage then fell away, as one Merlin second-stage engine burst to life and continued the Dragons trip to the International Space Station.
The second-stage rocket burned for about 9 minutes, 14 seconds, as its remaining fuel was exhausted. A few seconds later, the Dragon space capsule separated from its second stage, alone for the remaining trip to the Space Station.
Page two concludes.
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