Category Archives: Transhuman News

Kottabos Space Program EP7 - De-Orbiting My Space Station
Welcome to the Kottabos Space Program home of the fastest growing space exploration program on Kerbin (and fifth safest to boot). Come and see as we launch o...

By: KottabosGames

See the article here:
Kottabos Space Program EP7 - De-Orbiting My Space Station - Video

Artist's rendering of Cygnus spacecraft approaching the International Space Station. CREDIT: Orbital Sciences Corporation

Orbital Sciences Corp. is one of two private companies that currently hold a contract with NASA to fly unmanned cargo missions to the International Space Station.

The Dulles, Va.-based company's $1.9 billion deal with the space agency requires Orbital to fly eight unmanned cargo missions to the International Space Station using its Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule.

Orbital specialized in launching small satellites for much of the company's history. Recently, the firm has become involved in the manufacturing of missile defense systems. In total, the company has built more than 560 launch vehicles and more than 170 satellites.

Orbital's formal relationship with NASA began in 1983 when the firm signed an agreement to build a Transfer Orbit Stage vehicle that was eventually used during a launch of the space shuttle Discovery. [See Photos of Orbital Sciences' Cygnus and Antares]

By 1991, officials from Orbital signed an $80 million deal allowing NASA to use the company's Pegasus rocket to deliver small payloads into orbit. Pegasus a winged three-stage rocket designed to fly to low-Earth orbit was the first privately developed space launch vehicle.

In the past, the aerospace firm has also signed deals with the U.S. Air Force, Japan's Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Cygnus space capsule

Orbital's unmanned Cygnus spacecraft is designed to deliver pressurized crew supplies, scientific experiments and other unpressurized cargo to the space station.

The capsule is currently being built and is scheduled for its first test flight atop the company's Antares rocket in November 2013.

Go here to see the original:
Orbital Sciences Corporation: Satellites, Rockets and the Space Station

WASHINGTON -- Two members of the Expedition 35 crew will venture outside the International Space Station April 19 for a six-hour spacewalk to deploy and retrieve several science experiments and install a new navigational aid.

NASA Television will broadcast the spacewalk live beginning at 9:30 a.m. EDT. Russian flight engineers Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko will open the hatch to the Pirs airlock and docking compartment to start the spacewalk at 10:06 a.m.

The spacewalkers' first task will be to install the Obstanovka experiment on the station's Zvezda service module. Obstanovka will study plasma waves and the effect of space weather on Earth's ionosphere.

They will retrieve the Biorisk experiment, which studied the effect of microbes on spacecraft structures. If time permits, they also will retrieve one section of the Vinoslivost experiment, which exposed materials samples to space.

While at the far end of Zvezda, Vinogradov and Romanenko will replace a faulty retro-reflector device, one of a suite of navigational aids that will provide assistance to the European Space Agency's Albert Einstein Automated Transfer Vehicle 4 cargo ship during its final approach for an automated docking to the space station in June.

This spacewalk will be the 167th in support of space station assembly and maintenance, the seventh for Vinogradov and the first for Romanenko. Both spacewalkers will wear spacesuits marked by blue stripes. Romanenko's suit will be equipped with a helmet camera to provide close up views of the spacewalk activity as it progresses.

This is the first of as many as six Russian spacewalks planned for this year. Two U.S. spacewalks are scheduled in July.

For NASA TV schedule and video streaming information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information on the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.

More:
NASA TV Provides Coverage of Space Station Spacewalk