Category Archives: Space Station

Chinas April 20 launch of the first in its new line of spacecraft marks the first step in its goal of constructing its own version of the International Space Station (ISS).

The 10.6-meter long cargo Tainzhou-1 cargo vehicle will spend the next two months conducting three separate docking attempts at the Tiangong-2, a small prototype space station already in orbit.

Each docking attempt will be done from a different direction in relation to the small space station. Following the dockings, Tainzhou-1 will detach from the station altogether and conduct its own science experiments.

When those are concluded, the spacecraft will be sent to burn up in Earths atmosphere.

Tainzhou-1 is capable of carrying as much as six tons of supplies, approximately twice as much as the cargo vessels that resupply the ISS, such as Russias Soyuz, Japans HTV, and the USs Dragon and Cygnus capsules.

Without being part of an international partnership, China will have to resupply its space station on its own.

Current plans aim at putting the first crew in orbit in 2022 and keeping the station continuously crewed for about 10 years.

Taking a page from the ISS and its predecessor, the Russian Mir, China envisions its space station as being constructed of various modules, including housing areas, science laboratories and places to store equipment. All the modules will be assembled in Earth orbit.

The space station is only one part of a much more ambitious Chinese space program that includes sending both robotic and crewed missions to the Moon.

Engineers are working on building a heavy-lift rocket, known as the Long March-9, that is similar to the Saturn V rockets used in the USs Apollo program.

Expected to be operational in about 15 years, the Long March-9 will be capable of carrying 130 metric tons into orbit. China envisions it transporting taikonauts to the Moon by 2030.

Laurel Kornfeld is a freelance writer and amateur astronomer from Highland Park, NJ, who enjoys writing about astronomy and planetary science. She studied journalism at Douglass College, Rutgers University, and earned a Graduate Certificate of Science in astronomy from Swinburne Universitys Astronomy Online program.

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China begins work on its own large space station - The Space Reporter

When a satellite returns from Mars with what appears to be an alien lifeform, the celebratory mood at the International Space Station turns to horror as each of the astronauts become hunted prey with very few places to hide. Life, directed by Daniel Espinosa (Child 44), stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare and Olga Dihovichnaya, with visual effects supervised by John Moffatt (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). ILM was hired to orchestrate the introduction of the ISS orbiting Earth and the different crew members working within spacecrafts tight confines -- ILM San Francisco handled the 1,000 frame opening shot that establishes the exterior presence of the ISS while ILM London was responsible for a seven-minute long interior ISS sequence that consisted of 10,000 frames and required the stitching together of 17 plates.

There was an extensive amount of previs and techvis done to start the whole process off so we had a good idea of where we were trying to join shots together and what were the key story points, explains ILMs London-based VFX supervisor Mark Bakowski. Then we worked with John Moffatt to put together a rough version. There was not much in the way of concept art as the ISS and Earth were reasonably realistic builds.

Though Bakowskis team had considerable previs at hand, framing and composition of the shots were not entirely predetermined. He notes, We had joins that involved a character on-screen taken over by a digital double and transitioned to the B plate of a different character. Those joins involved CG environments or at least a reprojection of the plate environment. We had a fair degree of freedom to play with that. Daniel Espinosa was keen to have those as naturalistic as possible. If you were shooting this for real and were following someone down the tight confines of the tunnels in the ISS then space was needed for the cameraman to back up and turn around. We werent framed up perfectly with our characters as they go through so there was some dead time and space as we went back to find our hero character again.

Unlike on Gravity, extensive sets were built for Life. Three quarters of the ISS tunnels were built practically with the roof removed so that the wire rigs could go down and have access to the actors, remarks Bakowski. The interior of the ISS is spartan and feels like a laboratory. We did little touches of dust motes being caught in the light and had glints outside the window. Anytime we could stick a lens flare in we would stick a lens flare in. Some interior lights we gave flares and glints to bring the shot to life. Then there were natural patches of darkness and highlights for range and variety so we werent constantly in a florescent light lit office space world.

The characters movements helped the creation of seamless transitions from one plate to another keeping things interesting was the utilization of a poor mans motion-control. Says Bakowski, There were a couple of key moments where we had an in-camera drift with so much parallax that it would have been hard and expensive to rebuild and takeover the camera so we used floating props to justify the movement of the camera.

Digital human augmentation was required to simulate zero gravity. We certainly had to repose parts of the body when you could see that the actor was wearing a hip swivel harness, explains Bakowski. Their waist would sag so we had to do a bit of warping. There were creases in the clothes, sections where the clothes would ride up and times that the wires went in front of peoples faces. Its not spectacular work but is still challenging. Another of our challenges was having characters coexisting in the same zero-g environment and making sure there was consistency in the lighting and their momentum. Youll have characters who would just keep on going until an object forced them to stop, such as an existing bulkhead or a CG version.

Additionally, user interfaces had to be produced for the visible ISS computer monitors. For story point purposes, we needed to make it clear that Jake Gyllenhaals character was controlling the Canadarm, which catches the satellite. We replaced a few on-set monitors and added some CCTV style exterior views of the Canadarm. We also added a red dot on an exterior map to show where Gyllenhaal was relative to the approaching satellite.

We went back and forth [with Moffatt] about how much in the way of stars we would see and how much in the way of artefacts, like lens dirt and glow, states Bakowski. Hero images were selected where you could see how the sun bled through the sections of the solar panels while others reflected and refracted light. We cheated the amount of sun moving across the solar panels to make sure that the whole thing came to life rather than looked like a static still frame. Embellishments were also made to Earth by putting glints onto rivers. Bukowski continues, Our view of Earth was based on reference photography and time lapse footage from the ISS. We were careful that the sun was behind something such as a solar panel or crane so you would never be looking at it and Earth at the same time; that would have given us an exposure nightmare.

Along with traditional matte paintings, Terragen was used by Bakowski for the first time to block the lighting positions of Earth. We did a fair bit of motion vector dynamism to get rid of the worst of the fireflies because when youre dealing with high contrast space material it can get quite noisy with the light bouncing around. We held our render power back, then kicked out a large render, put that through various compositing processes, and did reprojection here and there to patch it up as required.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer best known for composing in-depth filmmaker and movie profiles for sites such as the CGSociety, 3DTotal, Live for Films and 3D World Magazine.

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ILM Brings International Space Station Reality to 'Life' - Animation World Network (press release) (registration) (blog)

The Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship S.S. John Glenn arrives near the International Space Station on April 22, 2017 to deliver tons of supplies for the orbiting lab's crew. The robotic spacecraft is named in honor of the famed Mercury astronaut John Glenn, who died in December.

John Glenn has arrived on the space station.

The S.S. John Glenn,Orbital ATK's seventh Cygnus cargo ship to deliver supplies and science for the crew on board the International Space Station, completed a four-day rendezvous to the orbiting laboratory on Saturday morning (April 21). The robotic freighter was namedin honor of the late Mercury astronaut and U.S. Senator.

Expedition 51 flight engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (ESA), working with commander Peggy Whitson of NASA, captured the John Glenn using the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm at 6:05 a.m. EDT (1005 GMT). [The Cygnus S.S. John Glenn Launch in Pictures]

"We are very proud to welcome on board the S.S. John Glenn," Pesquet said.

With the Cygnus in grasp, flight controllers at NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston will take over from Pesquet and Whitson and to guide the spacecraft to a berthing on the Earth-facing port of the space stations Unity module, where it will remain attached for the next 85 days.

Launched atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Tuesday (April 18), the S.S. John Glenn could have arrived at the space station earlier, but held off its approach (referred to by NASA as "station-keeping")to allow Russias Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft to dock with crewmembers Jack Fischer of NASA and Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian federal space corporation Roscosmos on Thursday.

With the arrival of the Cygnus came the delivery of more than 7,600 lbs. (3,500 kilograms) of cargo, including the research materials to support dozens of new and ongoing science investigations. The delivery will enable studies on cancer-fighting drugs and crystal growth.

Also aboard the S.S. John Glenn is equipment to be installed outside the space station during a spacewalk scheduled for May 12, 38 CubeSats (many built by university students from around the world) to be deployed from the stations Japanese airlock (or from the Cygnus itself) and a new advanced plant growth habitat.

"A big difference in this system, compared to [the plant growth chamber]Veggie, is that it requires minimal crew involvement to install the science, add water and perform other maintenance activities," said Bryan Onate, the habitat's project manager, in a NASA interview. "We are learning how plants grow in space and what levels of commodities, such as light and water, are required so we can maximize our growth with the least resources.

Once emptied of its deliveries, the space station's crew will refill the S.S. John Glenn with spent equipment and other refuse to be destroyed during the spacecraft's destructive re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in July. Prior to that plunge but after the Cygnus departs from the space station the cargo freighter will support the third in a series of experiments intohow fire burns in microgravity.

The spacecrafts namesake,John Glenn, died on Dec. 8, 2016, at the age of 95 and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery on April 6. A Marine Corps Colonel and four-term U.S. Senator from Ohio, Glenn was the last of NASA's Mercury astronauts to die. In addition to being the first American to orbit Earth,Glenn became the oldest astronaut to fly in space at age 77 on space shuttle Discovery in 1998 (a record he still holds).

Robert Pearlman is a contributing writer and the editor of collectSPACE.com, a Space.compartner site and the leading space history news publication. Follow collectSPACEon Facebookand on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Follow us @Spacedotcom,FacebookandGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.

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Cygnus Cargo Ship SS John Glenn Arrives at Space Station - Space.com

Happy birthday, Canadarm2! A Canadian-made robotic arm affixed outside the International Space Station turns 16 years old today (April 24).

Canadarm2, also known as the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), arrived at the orbital outpost with mission STS-100 aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on April 19, 2001. Five days and two spacewalks later, Canadarm2's installation was complete.

Canadarm2, a robotic arm outside the International Space Station, turns 16 years old this week! Its installation was completed on April 24, 2001. In this photo, NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson rides Canadarm2 during the STS-114 mission in 2005

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfieldand NASA astronaut Scott Parazynskispent nearly 15 hours installing Canadarm2 during STS-100. Since then, the arm has been moving around the outside of the space station, handling heavy payloads and occasionally assisting astronauts with about 100 spacewalks, all in the name of space station assembly and maintenance.

Astronauts at the space station now use Canadarm2 to grab and dock incoming spacecraft like Orbital ATK's cargo-resupply ship SS John Glenn, which arrived at the space station on Saturday (April 22).

Sometimes, flight controllers on the ground in Houston will operate Canadarm2 remotely, like when the arm was used to relocate a docking adapterin between two spacewalks last month.

The 58-foot-long (18 meters) arm is one of three robotic components that now make up the space station's Mobile Servicing System, along with a robotic "hand" known as Dextre and a base platform known as the Mobile Remote Servicer Base System (MBS). The MBS allows Canadarm2 and Dextre to move around the outside of the space station's main truss structure "by sliding along a track system mounted along the entire width of the station," theCanadian Space Agencywrote in a description.

"Sometimes, when looking out the window, the best view is not on Earth but on the International Space Station itself," European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet wrote when he tweeted this photo. "The robotic arm casts a shadow on the solar array, while the rest of our home space is shrouded in darkness."

Canadarm2 may be orbiting roughly 250 miles (400 km) overhead, but you can get firsthand experience with the teenage robot via the Canadian Space Agency's cool Canadarm2 Simulator, an online gamein which you control the robotic arm during a mock mission at the space station.

Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookand Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Happy Birthday, Canadarm2! Spacecraft-Grabbing Robotic Arm Turns 16 - Space.com

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan A Soyuz space capsule on Thursday safely delivered an American astronaut making his first space flight and a veteran Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station.

NASAs Jack Fischer and Russias Fyodor Yurchikhin lifted off from the Russia-leased launch facility in Kazakhstan at Thursday afternoon. They reached orbit about nine minutes later, a moment illustrated when a stuffed white dog toy hanging from a string in the capsule began to float.

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About six hours later, they docked at the orbiting outpost.

NASAs Peggy Whitson, the crews commander, Russias Oleg Novitskiy, and Frances Thomas Pesquet greeted Fischer and Yurchikhin with cheers and hugs. They floated into the station two hours after the docking.

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Yurchikhin, making his fifth space flight, and Fischer, who is there for the first time, talked to family and friends at the Baikonur facility who were watching the launch there.

Fischers wife thanked him for what she said was the most unexpected bouquet of flowers that she received as he was launching into space. Fischer told his wife she had veteran cosmonaut Yurchikhin to thank for that.

The two American astronauts are scheduled to speak with President Trump on Monday.

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On that day, Wilson, who on a previous mission became the first woman to command the International Space Station, will break the US astronaut record for the most cumulative time in space. Jeffrey Williams currently holds the 534-day record.

At 57, Whitson also is the oldest woman to have been in space. She is scheduled to return to Earth in September.

Fischer and Yurchikhin will spend more than four months aboard the orbiting space station before also returning to Earth in September.

Associated Press

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American, Russian cheered as they reach space station - The Boston Globe

A supply ship bearing John Glenn's name arrived at the International Space Station on Saturday.

Astronauts used the station's big robot arm to grab the capsule, as the craft flew 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Germany.

NASA's commercial shipper, Orbital ATK, named the spacecraft the S.S. John Glenn in honor of the first American to orbit Earth. It rocketed from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday with nearly 7,700 pounds of food, experiments and other goods.

Glenn died in December at age 95 and was buried earlier this month at Arlington National Cemetery. His widow, Annie, granted permission for Orbital ATK to use his name for the Cygnus spacecraft. The company, in fact, sent up some memorabilia for the Glenn family.

Glenn made history in 1962 when he soared into orbit aboard Friendship 7, his one-man Mercury capsule. He returned to space in 1998 aboard shuttle Discovery, at age 77, right before station construction began in orbit.

Space station commander Peggy Whitson who on Monday will set a U.S. record for most accumulated time in orbit notified Mission Control when S.S. John Glenn was captured.

"We're very proud to welcome on board the S.S. John Glenn," said French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who took part in the operation. The contents "will be put to good use to continue our mission of research, exploration and discovery."

Whitson and Pesquet have been living on the space station since November, along with a Russian. They were joined by another American and Russian on Thursday.

Whitson is making her third space station flight. Early Monday, she will surpass the 534-day, two-hour-and-change mark set by astronaut Jeffrey Williams last year. President Donald Trump will call her from the Oval Office to offer congratulations.

The S.S. John Glenn, meanwhile, will remain at the orbiting outpost until July, when it is let go to burn up in the atmosphere.

Online:

NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/missionpages/station/main/index.html

Orbital ATK: https://www.orbitalatk.com/

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Supply ship named for John Glenn arrives at space station - ABC News

SpaceX's and Boeing's commercial spacecraft, slated to begin bringing crew to the International Space Station as early as next year, will be able to serve as temporary shelter or lifeboats if there were to be dangerous situations on the station.

New commercial crew spacecraft for the International Space Station will be able to do more than just carry astronauts to the orbiting lab: They will also serve as temporary shelters, or even fly crew home, if there is an emergency in space, according to NASA.

Currently, in dangerous situations, such as when a piece of orbital debris threatens the space station, crewmembers take shelter in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. And if a medical emergency were to arise that could not be handled in orbit, the crew would head back to Earth in the Soyuz craft.

The SpaceX Dragon and the Boeing CST-100 commercial crew spacecraft are both set to start crewed flights as early as next year, and NASA is working to ensure that these new spacecraft will serve most of the Russian spacecraft's protective functions, agency officials said in a statement. [ISS Tour: Russian Segment & Soyuz Spacecraft (Video)]

"The scenarios that would call for the spacecraft to operate as space-borne lifeboats have not occurred on the International Space Station before, but mission planners have long made sure they are prepared," NASA officials added.

"An electrical issue or ammonia leak on the space station could call for astronauts to shelter inside a Commercial Crew Program spacecraft long enough to correct the problem."

Today, the space station typically has six people on board, made up of two separate Soyuz crews, although the number sometimes reaches nine. Each person has an assigned emergency seat that he or she would use if the need were to arise. Therefore, the number of emergency seats limits how many people can be on the spacecraft at one time.

The Russian Soyuz can seat up to three people at a time. Depending on the crew configuration, the Dragon and CST-100 vehicles will each seat up to seven crewmembers.

However, the new spacecraft must meet a strict list of NASA requirements to serve as a lifeboat. Specifically, NASA said the spacecraft must be able to turn on quickly, even after sitting dormant at a docking station for weeks or months.

"Some systems will take longer to bring online, but the idea is to have spacecraft that astronauts can get into quickly for survival and then use to pull away from the station and come home if that is needed," Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said in the statement. "Defining exactly what that means, and what the companies can do to make it real, was the hard part. That's why we took a teamwork approach from the start and why we've treated this as a partnership."

Both Boeing and SpaceX are performing Earth-based tests of their spacecraft before doing in-orbit evaluations with a crew on board. After that, they will test their spacecraft's capabilities during a short mission.

"Their performances in space without an actual emergency are to be considered carefully before NASA certifies the companies to fly operational missions, which could see a spacecraft docked to the station for months at a time," agency officials added.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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New Commercial Crew Vehicles Could Serve As Space Station 'Lifeboats' - Space.com

Earlier today, Chinas first automated cargo spacecraft successfully docked with the countrys Tiangong-2 space station, according to Reuters. The Tianzhou-1 mission is the first such mission to the station, and is part of the countrys plan towards establishing a permanent presence in Earth orbit.

The successful docking is a milestone for the country its the first mission for the Tianzhou-class spacecraft, which was launched into orbit onboard a Long March 7 rocket on Thursday from the Wenchang space center on Hainan Island in Southern China. The spacecraft is the heaviest vehicle that the country has put into orbit, and and can reportedly carry up to six tones of supplies and two tons of fuel.

The uncrewed ship will remain docked for to Tiangong-2 for two months, where it will conduct several months of robotic demonstrations, according to Spaceflight Now. Once its mission on the station is complete, it will detach and orbit the Earth to conduct several additional experiments for three months before landing. These experiments, which will include docking and re-docking to the station, as well as refueling, are crucial steps for Chinas space agency to practice as it prepares to launch a larger space station into orbit.

Launched in September 2016, the Tiangong-2 is designed for such practice missions, with the first modules of its replacement expected to be launched into orbit as early as next year. In October 2016, Chinese astronauts first visited Tiangong-2 for a 32-day mission, the countrys longest crewed mission. Onboard, the two astronauts conducted a variety of experiments before returning home in November.

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China's first automated cargo spaceship has docked with the Tiangong 2 space station - The Verge

President Donald Trump will speak next week to the commander of the orbiting International Space Station.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Wednesday the call with Peggy Whitson and fellow astronaut Jack Fischer will take place April 24.

On that date, Whitson, the first woman to command the International Space Station, will have spent 535 days in space, the most time spent in space of any American astronaut.

Astronaut Jeffrey Williams currently holds the record.

The 57-year-old biochemist has also performed eight spacewalks, more than any other woman, and a ninth may be in the offing.

Whitson's current stretch in space was extended to September because an empty seat will be available on a Russian Soyuz capsule for her return.

Spicer said the call is partly intended to discuss the "importance of encouraging women to pursue careers" in STEM science, education, technology and math fields.

Astronaut Kate Rubins and Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, whose White House portfolio involves women's empowerment, will also take part in the call.

Last month, Trump signed new legislation adding human exploration of Mars to NASA's mission. The law authorizes $19.5 billion in spending for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for the budget year that began Oct. 1.

Trump hailed the work of NASA when he signed the bill, saying it "has inspired millions and millions of Americans to imagine distant worlds and a better future right here on earth."

The call will air live on NASA TV.

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Trump to call commander of International Space Station - ABC News

Two days after a Russian Soyuz spacecraft ferried two fresh crew members to the International Space Station, a commercial cargo ship loaded with some 7,600 pounds of supplies and equipment completed its own rendezvous early Saturday and was pulled in for berthing by the labs robot arm.

Launched Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship, named in honor of the late astronaut John Glenn, pulled up to within 40 feet of the station and then stood by while Expedition 51 commander Peggy Whitson and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, operating the Canadian arm, locked onto the spacecraft.

Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston then took over arm operations and pulled the Cygnus in for berthing at the Earth-facing port of the stations central Unity module.

The crew of Expedition 51 would like to congratulate all the teams at NASA, Orbital ATK and the contractors for a flawless cargo delivery mission, Pesquet radioed after grappling the cargo ship.

Were very proud to welcome on board the S.S. John Glenn. The more than three tons of pressurized cargo in the Cygnus spacecraft will be put to good use to continue our mission of research, exploration and discovery.

The arrival of the supply ship capped a busy week at the space station, following the arrival of the Soyuz MS-04 crew ferry ship Thursday carrying commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Jack Fischer. They joined Whitson, Pesquet and Soyuz MS-03 commander Oleg Novitskiy, 10 days after three other station fliers returned to Earth.

On Monday, around 1:27 a.m., Whitson will become Americas most experienced astronaut, passing Jeff Williams cumulative mark of 534 days in space during his three space fights. President Trump and daughter Ivanka plan a congratulatory call to the station later Monday morning.

On May 12, Whitson and Fischer will venture outside for a spacewalk to replace an external computer, install a high-definition camera on the stations power truss, attach micrometeoroid shielding to a docking port and help engineers troubleshoot cooling issues with a high-energy physics experiment.

Whitson is already Americas most experienced female spacewalker, with 53 hours 22 minutes of EVA time during eight previous excursions. After her ninth spacewalk, she will move up to No. 3 in the world, behind cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev and former astronaut Mike Lopez-Alegria.

Novitskiy and Pesquet plan to return to Earth June 2 to close out a 196-day mission. The next day, a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship is expected to arrive, followed by a Russian Progress freighter June 14. Three fresh crew members -- Soyuz MS-05 commander Sergey Ryazanskiy, Randy Bresnik and European astronaut Paolo Nespoli -- will arrive July 28.

Whitson launched to the station with Novitskiy and Pesquet last November, but she will remain aboard for an extended mission when they depart in June, returning to Earth Sept. 3 with Yurchikhin and Fischer.

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Commercial cargo ship named for John Glenn reaches space station - 10TV