Category Archives: Transhuman News

Space Station Commander Koichi Wakata Discusses Life in Space with Japanese Media
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency fielded questions about life and work...

By: NASA

See original here:
Space Station Commander Koichi Wakata Discusses Life in Space with Japanese Media - Video

Give a name to a space mission
British astronaut Tim Peake is looking for a name for his six-month mission to the International Space Station...and he needs YOUR help. Enter the competitio...

By: thestudentroom

Link:
Give a name to a space mission - Video

Convair Space Station Development Program 10/17/62 HACL Film 00188
Film from the Atlas Centaur Heritage Film Collection which was donated to the San Diego Air and Space Museum by Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance. T...

By: sdasmarchives

Here is the original post:
Convair Space Station Development Program 10/17/62 HACL Film 00188 - Video

LOS ANGELES (AP) Arriving fashionably late, a Russian spacecraft carrying three astronauts docked with the International Space Station Thursday evening 250 miles over Brazil.

The crew aboard the orbiting outpost congratulated the latest members Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev and NASA's Steve Swanson.

"A flawless approach, a flawless docking," said mission control commentator Rob Navias.

The trio blasted off from Kazakhstan on Wednesday local time aboard a Soyuz rocket for what was supposed to be a six-hour straight shot to the space station. But an engine burn designed to fine-tune the craft's path did not occur as planned, delaying the docking.

Two rendezvous maneuvers were executed to put the Soyuz on course. The astronauts were never in danger.

Jaunts to the space station used to take two days. Last year, engineers experimented with a way to cut the trip down to six hours by compressing the number of times the Soyuz fires its engines to raise its orbit to meet the space station.

Had the latest trip been on schedule, it would have been only the fifth time that a crew would have taken the "fast track" route.

Engineers were investigating the snag, but believe the burn didn't occur because the Soyuz was not in the right position.

The new crew, who will stay in orbit for six months, joined Japan's Koichi Wakata, NASA's Rick Mastracchio and Russia's Mikhail Tyurin.

Since the retirement of the space shuttle fleet, NASA has depended on the Russians to hitch a ride to the space station, paying nearly $71 million per seat.

See the original post:
Space station awaits for Russian craft after delay

WASHINGTON Russia's annexation of Crimea may have put the world economy on edge, but for the U.S. rocket industry, at least, the standoff over Ukraine hasn't been all bad.

Since the showdown began, NASA officials, along with industry groups and politicians such as U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, have renewed calls to speed up the creation of a U.S.-run "taxi service" to the International Space Station.

The goal is to free NASA from having to pay Russia to fly U.S. astronauts to the outpost. The service is costing NASA about $1.7 billion from 2012 to 2017.

In a Tuesday blog post, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden blamed Congress for not giving NASA enough money to fund the taxi service, which would pay U.S. rocket companies to transport NASA astronauts to the station.

"Later today [Tuesday], NASA astronaut Steve Swanson will lift off towards the International Space Station, not from the Space Coast of Florida or some other American spaceport, but from Kazakhstan on a Russian spacecraft," Bolden wrote. "And unfortunately, the plan put forward by the Obama Administration to address this situation has been stymied by some in Congress."

After a successful launch, Swanson and his Russian crew mates were supposed to reach the station Tuesday, but trouble with thrusters on their Soyuz spacecraft has delayed the rendezvous until Thursday.

In making his case, Bolden did not suggest that the U.S.-Russia partnership in space was about to splinter because of Russia's annexation of Crimea, a former Ukrainian territory.

But he argued that if Congress had fully funded NASA's taxi service, the agency would have the option to pay U.S. companies, such as Boeing and SpaceX, for these flights much sooner instead of relying on Russia. NASA has paid Russia to transport its astronauts since the U.S. retired the space shuttle in 2011.

"Recognizing that this was unacceptable, President Obama has requested in NASA's budget more than $800 million each of the past five years to incentivize the American aerospace industry to build the spacecraft needed to launch our astronauts from American soil," Bolden wrote.

"Had this plan been fully funded, we would have returned American human spaceflight launches and the jobs they support back to the United States next year."

See the original post:
NASA pushes for U.S.-run 'taxi' to space station