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Category Archives: Space Station

Lockheed's 'Jupiter' Space Tug Could Fly to Space Station, Moon and Beyond

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Lockheed Martin has unveiled a new spaceflight architecture that it says could take cargo to the International Space Station and help facilitate humanity's spread out into the solar system.

Lockheed hopes the system which features a space tug known as Jupiter and a supply module called Exoliner wins a NASA contract for the next round of cargo missions to the space station, which would commence in 2018. But the company's ambitions extend far beyond low-Earth orbit, to destinations such as the moon and Mars. Lockheed unveiled the project, along with a video animation of how Jupiter and Exoliner would work, on Thursday (March 12).

"Although our priority is going to be servicing the International Space Station and providing the ability to carry commercial payloads and deploy small satellites, we're also designing this system from the beginning to be able to do deep-space missions," Lockheed Martin space exploration architect Josh Hopkins told reporters during a news briefing Thursday. [See more views of Lockheed's Jupiter and Exoliner spacecraft]

"That means that NASA will be able to start doing some early human spaceflights beyond low-Earth orbit without a huge investment," Hopkins added. "Instead, what they'll be able to do is buy more copies of the same design."

Lockheed named the refuelable Jupiter spacecraft after one of the two locomotives that met at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869 to mark the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad.

The "public-private partnership that basically established the Transcontintal Railroad changed everything," said Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager of Lockheed's Space Systems International division. "It changed the economics of how the United States competed in the world, and we believe that the system that we're unveiling tonight will do the same."

Two American companies Orbital ATK and SpaceX currently resupply the space station for NASA under separate billion-dollar contracts. Last year, the space agency solicited proposals for a new round of private cargo delivery, called Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS-2).

Orbital ATK and SpaceX will face some competition in this next round: Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Lockheed have all thrown their hats into the CRS-2 ring. NASA is expected to make its decision this June. (The agency hasn't said how many contracts it will award, but it's likely to be at least two, given the agency's previously stated desire for redundancy and competition.)

If Lockheed Martin's entry is selected, the company's first operational mission likely in 2018 would launch Jupiter and an Exoliner toward the orbiting lab aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

The Exoliner will be able to haul up a maximum of 11,000 lbs. (5,000 kilograms) of pressurized cargo and 3,300 lbs. (1,500 kg) of unpressurized cargo, Lockheed representatives said.

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Lockheed's 'Jupiter' Space Tug Could Fly to Space Station, Moon and Beyond

US-Russian space trio land safely in Kazakhstan

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ALMATY - A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts landed safely in a snow-covered Kazakh steppe on Thursday after a 167-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

A capsule carrying NASA station commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Russian flight engineers Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova landed in a vertical upright position shortly after sunrise at 0807 (2207 ET), some 147 km (92 miles) southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan in central Kazakhstan.

"Everything is going on by the book," said a NASA television commentator. "Expedition 42 is back on Earth."

Extracted from the capsule, which was charred on re-entry, the three were seated in semi-reclined chairs for a breath of fresh air and first medical checks, bundled up in blankets to protect them from frigid temperatures.

"Everything is great, thank you. The guys are great and worked very well," said a smiling Serova while a female doctor measured her pulse and blood pressure.

"Congratulations on the recent holiday," a rescue and recovery team officer said to Serova, referring to the International Women's Day marked on March 8.

Serova made her first space flight and became the first Russian woman to serve on the ISS, a $100 billion project of 15 countries. Wilmore and Samokutyaev completed their second flights.

"Everything is fine. I am drinking real tea with lemon," Samokutyaev said with a smile.

"I am glad to be here," Wilmore said in Russian before the three got into all-terrain vehicles and were taken to individual helicopters to be evacuated from the landing area.

NASA astronaut Terry Virts, who took over command of the station from Wilmore on Tuesday, remains aboard with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. They are due home in mid-May.

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US-Russian space trio land safely in Kazakhstan

Year in Space, Twin Test: NASA astronaut tells RT about upcoming mission – Video

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Year in Space, Twin Test: NASA astronaut tells RT about upcoming mission
For the first time NASA is planning to send an astronaut to the International Space Station for a whole year. RT spoke to Scott Kelly, who #39;s currently getting ready to blast on his fourth ISS...

By: RT

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Year in Space, Twin Test: NASA astronaut tells RT about upcoming mission - Video

Drama as space station crew returns to Earth

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Three space station fliers -- the outgoing NASA commander and two Russian cosmonauts -- undocked and returned to Earth Wednesday, ending a 167-day stay in space with a nail-biting communications blackout that left the crew out of contact with Russian flight controllers during much of the trip home.

The cause of the communications dropout was not immediately known, but during a brief exchange with recovery crews during the final stages of the descent, spacecraft commander Alexander Samokutyaev reported all three crew members were in good shape. The craft then proceeded to an on-target touchdown on the snowy steppe of Kazakhstan.

Landing was expected around 10:08 p.m., but low clouds and icy fog blocked a clear view of the touchdown and it took another nine minutes or so before Russian recovery crews confirmed the descent module was on the ground and in a vertical orientation. An exact landing time was not immediately known.

As always with Soyuz landings, Russian recovery forces and a team of U.S. and Russian flight surgeons were standing by near the landing zone to help the returning station fliers -- Samokutyaev, flight engineer Elena Serova and Barry "Butch" Wilmore -- out of the cramped descent module for initial medical checks and satellite calls home to friends and family.

Carried to recliners near the descent module and quickly bundled in blankets, all three crew members appeared healthy and in good spirits, smiling and chatting with recovery crews before they were hustled away to a nearby medical tent for more extensive checks.

Before leaving the space station, Wilmore said he looked forward to re-entry aboard the Soyuz.

"It's not many jobs that you have the opportunity to return from work in a 17,000-mile-an-hour fireball," Wilmore, a fighter pilot with a shuttle mission to his credit, joked a few days ago. "This is one of those opportunities! To be honest, I'm not a thrill seeker by any means, but a unique experience like that, I do look forward to it, literally coming back in a fireball."

At touchdown, Samokutyaev had logged a combined 331 days in space during two space flights. Wilmore's total, including one shuttle flight, stood at 178 days while Serova, completing her first mission, had logged 167 days aloft.

All three planned to fly by helicopter to Karaganda before splitting up for separate trips home. Wilmore will board a NASA jet and fly back to Houston while Samokutyaev and Serova will head for home in Star City, near Moscow, for debriefing.

Left behind aboard the space station were Expedition 43 commander Terry Virts, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. During a change-of-command ceremony Tuesday, Wilmore thanked his crewmates for a successful stay in space.

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Drama as space station crew returns to Earth

Space station trio to return after 167 days in orbit

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The Soyuz TMA-14M crew (left to right): Barry "Butch" Wilmore, commander Alexander Samokutyaev and flight engineer Elena Serova. The trio plans to undock from the International Space Station Wednesday evening for a fiery return to Earth, landing in Kazakhstan around 10:08 p.m. EDT to close out a 167-day mission. NASA

Three space station fliers -- the outgoing NASA commander and two Russian cosmonauts -- are returning to Earth Wednesday after more than five months in orbit, reducing the lab's crew to three in a brief lull before launch of three fresh crew members at the end of the month, including two who plan to spend nearly a full year aboard the outpost.

Soyuz TMA-14M commander Alexander Samokutyaev, flanked on the left by flight engineer Elena Serova and on the right by shuttle veteran Barry "Butch" Wilmore, plan to detach their ferry craft from the space station's upper Poisk module Wednesday, at 6:44 p.m. EDT (GMT-4), to set the stage for re-entry and landing in Kazakhstan.

After moving a safe distance away from the lab complex, Samokutyaev and Serova plan to monitor a four-minute 41-second deorbit rocket firing, starting at 9:16 p.m., slowing the ship by about 286 mph to drop the far side of its orbit deep into Earth's atmosphere.

If all goes well, the capsule will settle to a jarring parachute and rocket-assisted touchdown near the town of Dzhezkazgan around 10:07:53 p.m. to close out a 167-day five-hour voyage that began with blastoff last Sept. 25 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Forecasters are predicting temperatures in the mid 20s with fresh snow in the wake of a passing frontal system.

"It's not many jobs that you have the opportunity to return from work in a 17,000-mile-an-hour fireball," Wilmore, a fighter pilot with a shuttle mission to his credit, joked from orbit. "This is one of those opportunities! To be honest, I'm not a thrill seeker by any means, but a unique experience like that, I do look forward to it, literally coming back in a fireball."

He said said he was particularly looking forward to landing when "the Soyuz capsule does a lot of rocking and rolling."

"Eventually, the main chutes come out and, of course, you've got the separation of the (heat shield) on the bottom of the capsule and so many different events," he said. "And finally, the soft landing jets fire -- they're not so soft, I'm told -- and then, of course, the touchdown.

"It's going to be wintertime in Kazakhstan, a lot of snow, so maybe we'll hit a nice fluffy snow bank. And as the hatch opens, that fresh air coming in, it'll be chilly, I look forward to that as well."

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Space station trio to return after 167 days in orbit

Space station crew returns safely to Earth

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Two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut arrived safely home to Earth Thursday after concluding a six-month stint on the International Space Station (ISS).

Alexander Samokutyaev, Yelena Serova and Barry Wilmore returned to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz space capsule, landing upright amid heavy fog near the town of Zhezkazgan, in central Kazakhstan. Recovery crews arrived within minutes of the landing to extract the crew from the capsule.

"The Expedition 42 crew is back on Earth, " NASA commentator Rob Navias said as the US space agency broadcast the landing live.

All three crew members are said to be in good condition and will undergo brief medical tests.

After NASA retired its shuttle program, the world relies on Russian Soyuz capsules to transport personnel to and from the ISS

"Soft landing guys. We're going to miss you," ISS commander Terry Virts radioed as his crewmates departed for Earth.

Samokutyaev, Serova and Wilmore left Earth on September 26 and traveled more than 70 million miles (112 million km) during their six months in outer space. Serova is the first Russian woman to serve on the station, which is a $100 billion project of 15 nations.

Three other astronauts currently remain on the space station and the next crew scheduled to join them will launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on March 28. That crew will consist of US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Mikail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka.

The mission will focus on "collecting valuable biomedical data that will inform future deep space, long-duration missions," according to NASA.

bw/gsw (Reuters, AFP, AP)

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Space station crew returns safely to Earth


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