Category Archives: Space Station

No science-fiction movie that takes place at the International Space Station has been quite as terrifying as "Life," a new space thriller that comes out in theaters today (March 24).

In the film, a Mars sample-return mission delivers the first proof of alien life to a group of astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS). What is at first a harmless, single-celled organism sealed inside a box in the lab grows bigger, stronger, smarter and bloodthirsty. When it breaks out of its container and comes after the astronauts, all hell breaks loose. ['Life' Movie Brings Terrifying Space Thrills (Photo Gallery)]

The all-star cast who play the astronauts in "Life" do not disappoint. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a doctor who has spent more than 473 days aboard the ISS. Rebecca Ferguson plays a microbiologist whose job it is to protect everyone at the station and on Earth from possible contamination by the alien. Ryan Reynolds plays the role of a spacewalk specialist and provides some necessary comedic relief to this gruesome story.

The plot of "Life" is a bit of a mashup between the movies "Gravity" and "Alien." Just like in the "Alien" saga, the extraterrestrial in "Life" (which is nicknamed Calvin after school children on Earth won a naming contest) is out to kill every living thing aboard the spacecraft in this case, the ISS. As the astronauts fight for their lives, they demolish the ISS. Though Calvin is the reason for their panic, the astronauts create more problems trying to kill it.

At times, the astronauts do things that would be considered foolish in real life, such as using fire to try to kill Calvin. (Starting fires is strictly forbidden at the ISS.) However, watching Ryan Reynolds blast flames at an octopus-like monster while chasing it around the ISS was worth the slight technical inaccuracy.

Astronauts find the first proof of life on Mars in a sample brought to the space station. The creature, which they named Calvin, seems harmless at first before growing into a bloodthirsty monster.

While the film is more of a horror flick than a science-driven narrative about extraterrestrial life and the International Space Station, there's plenty of real space science throughout the story to keep even hard-core space geeks entertained. The ISS is accurately and brilliantly rendered, and space-savvy viewers may recognize some of its features, such as the Canadarm robotic arm, the Cupola window and the docked Soyuz crew capsules.

Despite the superb acting and production that went into the making of this film, the story left me feeling a bit unsettled and unsatisfied near the end. For a group of highly intelligent astronauts at the space station, the astronauts made a lot of bad decisions that only make matters worse. I would have expected better from a group of trained professionals with "the right stuff." Then again, it's hard to guess how astronauts in the real world would deal with a situation as crazy as this. After all, they are still humans.

Overall, the film is worth a watch for anyone who's into space, horror, or both. But if you're expecting a heroic story of six brave astronauts who save the day, you might be disappointed with the ending.

"Life" is rated R (for violence, gore, terror and profanity) and opens in theaters nationwide today (March 24).

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

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'Life' Brings Alien Terror to the International Space Station - Space.com

Sunday: Low in the west this evening are two planets, though one will be trickier to spot than the other. At 8:30 p.m., the innermost planet Mercury is 6 degrees above the horizon and is the brightest object in this small region of the sky. Uranus is also nearby, but binoculars will be needed to locate this distant planet. To spot Uranus look 3 degrees to the lower left of Mercury.

Monday: The International Space Station makes several high bright passes over the next few days. Tonight the space station appears about 10 degrees above the southwest horizon at 8:57 p.m. The ISS will move northward, passing by the constellations of Taurus, Orion and Gemini before reaching a height of 73 degrees above the northwest horizon three minutes later. At 9:02 p.m., the spacecraft disappears as it slips into Earths shadow 22 degrees above the northeast horizon.

Tuesday: The International Space Station makes two bright passes tonight. The first starts in the south-southwest at 8:04 p.m. The ISS will move close to the bright star Sirius in the south then close to the star Regulus in the west, before disappearing shortly after 8:11 p.m. The second pass is brief and not as bright, but the space station passes extremely close to the planet Mars. The time of closest approach occurs at 9:42 p.m. when the space station will be less than a 10th of a degree from Mars.

Wednesday: The last bright pass of the International Space Station in this group occurs tonight. At 8:49 p.m. the spacecraft is 10 degrees above the western horizon. One minute later the space station passes within 5 degrees of the moon and 2 degrees of Mars. By 8:52 p.m. the ISS is 29 degrees above the northwest horizon. As the space station moves farther to the northeast it fades only slightly, and at 8:54 p.m. the station is 10 degrees above the north-northeast horizon.

Thursday: Tonight, the planet Mars is in the same area of the sky as the crescent moon. At 9 p.m. the pair are separated by 8 degrees. Both objects currently lie between the constellations of Aries and Taurus.

Friday: After being around Mars yesterday, the moon is now near the Hyades star cluster. At 9 p.m. the moon sits at the bottom of the V which represents the head of Taurus the bull. Most of the stars that compose the V and many that cannot be seen are part of the Hyades cluster. The major exception is Aldebaran, the bright red-orange star that happens to lie along our line of sight to the cluster.

Saturday: Though the moon is not too far from the constellation of Orion the Hunter, the Orion Nebula is always a fun target. The nebula can be seen with binoculars or a telescope and is easy to find. Below the three stars that form the hunters belt are three fainter stars in a row perpendicular to the belt stars. The middle star is actually the nebula.

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Skywatch: International Space Station visible several times this week - Tulsa World

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet takes a moment to pose during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station in January 2017.

Astronauts are gearing up for three spacewalks outsidethe International Space Station that will culminate in the station's 200th spacewalk.

The first and second spacewalks are scheduled to occur over the next eight days and will help prepare the station for commercial spacecraft carrying crew to be able to dock. One of them is also aimed at upgrading the station's capability to host Earth-observing instruments. Each will take about 6.5 hours.

"Here we come to the 200th spacewalk and we're still not just fixing things, but improving things and expanding capability and adding functionality continuing to build the space station over time," NASA Flight Director Emily Nelson said during a news briefing today (March 22). "The first half of the [space station] program was about building this enormous facility that's now producing all this amazing scientific research, and we don't just go outside to fix things most of [these three spacewalks] is about improving and expanding." [Astronaut's-Eye View: StunningSpacewalk Video from Space]

The first of the three spacewalks will see American astronaut Shane Kimbrough and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet setting out at 8 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) Friday (March 24), and you will be able to watch it live on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV. American astronaut Peggy Whitson will be inside, controlling the robotic arm help her crewmates.

Next, Kimbrough and Whitson will venture out March 30 (nobody on the robotic arm). Those two spacewalks are largely devoted to opening up space for a second International Docking Adaptor, which will allow future commercial spacecraft to dock with the station.

Right now, only Russia's Soyuz spacecraft can dock to bring people aboard astronauts have to use the robotic arm to grab and berth commercial spacecraft, like SpaceX's Dragon and Orbital ATK's Cygnus, which bring cargo to the station. NASA has contracted with SpaceX and Boeingto eventually send crew to the space station, and those arrivals in the coming years would use the new docking ports.

Whitson and Pesquet will conduct the third spacewalk, currently scheduled for April 6 with robotic help from Kimbrough inside. They will install an avionics box, set to be launched on a Cygnus spacecraft soon, that will let scientists install more experiments outside the station to take measurements and monitor Earth.

However, that Cygnus launchwas further postponed todaybecause of an issue with the Atlas V rocket's booster the thirdspacewalk will have to be rescheduled if it's set to arrive too late, since the astronauts will have to wait for the box's delivery.

Kimbrough, Whitson and Pesquet have been studying the procedures for the first spacewalk over the past week interspersed with the usual research aboard the orbiting lab as well as chatting with NASA fans through Facebook Live and talking with France's president, respectively.

After the three spacewalks wrap up, Kimbrough and Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov will be heading back to Earth in a Soyuz spacecraft, and two more crewmembers including first-time NASA flier Jack Fischer and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin will head up, bringing the crew count back to five.

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her@SarahExplains.Follow us@Spacedotcom,FacebookandGoogle+. Original article onSpace.com.

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Space Station Astronauts Poised to Tackle Three-Spacewalk Streak - Space.com

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USA TODAY NETWORK Published 9:58 a.m. ET March 24, 2017 | Updated 7:26 p.m. ET March 24, 2017

epa05716490 A handout photo made available by the European Space Agency (ESA) shows ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet during his first spacewalk at the International Space Station (ISS), 13 January 2017 (issued 14 January 2017). Together with NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough, he spent five hours and 58 minutes outside the Space Station to complete a battery upgrade to the ISS power system. EPA/ESA/NASA HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES(Photo: ESA/NASA HANDOUT, EPA)

Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agencyare on the first of threespacewalks outside the International Space Stationto prepare for the future arrival of U.S. commercial crew spacecraft. Watch the spacewalk live in the player above.

During Friday's spacewalk, NASA saysthe astronauts willprepare the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) for installation of the secondInternational Docking Adapter, which will accommodate commercial crew vehicle dockings. The PMA-3 provides the pressurized interface between the station modules and the docking adapter.

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Watch: Astronauts conduct spacewalk outside International Space Station - USA TODAY

China has already started making moves on its plan to complete a large modular space station within the next three to seven years. In late April, China will launch its Tianzhou-1 Heavenly Vessel spacecraft into orbit. There, it will rendezvous with the currently uncrewed Tiangong-2 Heavenly Palace module, which has been orbiting since September 2016. Tianzhou-1 will serve as a resupply craft, and while it orbits Earth, it will dock with Tiangong-2 several times to test propellant resupply procedures. This exercise is crucial to the future of a large space station, since the facility will require constant resupplies of food and equipment for the crew. This mission represents Chinas first big step toward building its as-yet-unnamed large modular space station.

Chinas progress in space comes at a pivotal moment in United States space policy, as Congress ponders the future of the International Space Station. While the U.S. operates the ISS in partnership with the ESA, Japan, and Russia, the U.S. contributes the majority of the annual operating budget. Therefore, if Congress decides to cut ISS funding in 2024, it would likely spell the end of the stations operating life. If that happens, Chinas new space station would become Earths only orbiting space station.

This possibility recently became quite real. On Wednesday, March 22, the House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology convened to discuss the future of the International Space Station, and signs are starting to point towards decreased funding. The hearing, entitled The ISS after 2024: Options and Impacts, covered the future of the ISS, whose funding currently goes through 2024. The assembled Representatives and expert panelists discussed the relative merits of continuing to fund the ISS, and one of the dominant themes that emerged was conflicts between funding the ISS and crewed spaceflight.

Tax dollars spent on the ISS will not be spent on destinations beyond low Earth orbit, including the moon and Mars. What opportunities will we miss if we maintain this status quo? says U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, a Texas Republican and chair of the House Science and Technologys Subcommittee on Space. The longer we operate the ISS, the longer it will take to get to Mars.

U.S. aspirations of crewed spaceflight, therefore, may spell the end of the ISS. If this happens, Chinas new space station could become Earths dominant orbiting laboratory. The next step after launching Tianzhou-1 will be the launch of the space stations core module, Tianhe-1 with a new-generation Long March 5 rocket. This will take place in 2018 or 2019.

Photos via Getty Images / Lintao Zhang

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China's New Space Station Could Replace the ISS | Inverse - Inverse

Funding the International Space Station beyond 2024 may hinder NASA's ability to get astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, some observers say.

The United States' ability to send astronauts to Mars in the mid-2030s depends in part on cutting back or ending government funding for the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024, the head of a congressional subcommittee that oversees NASA said Wednesday (March 22).

"We ought to be aware that remaining on the ISS [after 2024] will come at a cost," U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Space, said during a hearing about options and impacts for station operations beyond 2024.

"Tax dollars spent on the ISS will not be spent on destinations beyond low Earth orbit, including the moon and Mars," Babin said. "What opportunities will we miss if we maintain the status quo?" In Pictures: NASA's Vision for a Crewed Mars Base]

NASA currently spends about $3.5 billion a year on the space station program, including about $1.7 billion to transport crews and cargo, between $700 million and $800 million on research, and $1 billion on operations. An additional $1 billion comes from station partners Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada, NASA Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier told the committee.

NASA's space station budget makes up roughly half of the agency's total spending on human space exploration programs, with the development of the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and the Orion deep-space capsule accounting for most of the rest. The SLS and Orion costs are expected to continue at about the same levels beyond development and into manufacturing and operations, with a projected flight rate of about one per year beginning around 2023.

Gerstenmaier, who oversees NASA's human exploration programs, urged Congress to plan a smooth transition from the station to beyond-low-Earth-orbit initiatives, with an eye on preserving U.S. leadership in space, especially with China planning to launch a new space station in 2023.

A clear path forward also would allow NASA to better leverage the remaining time for station research and commercial initiatives, other participants in Wednesday's hearing said.

Mary Lynne Dittmar, executive director of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration advocacy group, warned that ending the U.S.' efforts at the station too early could nix budding commercial space companies, some of which might eventually support the station's continued operation as a commercial outpost.

"Applications with strong market potential are emerging," Dittmar said. "Abandoning the ISS too soon will most certainly guarantee failure."

The time between basic research and the development of commercial markets often takes decades, Dittmar said, noting that it was 49 years between the invention of the integrated circuit and the iPhone.

"It's impossible to predict commercial activity that's based on research and innovation, but [what] we know are the kinds of conditions that you create to help bring that about," she said.

While Congress ponders the station's future, NASA should expand its partnerships with private companies, urged Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based industry association.

"The NASA investment[s] in these partnerships are already paying huge dividends," Stallmer said.

For example, by partnering with private companies, NASA has been able to cut its costs to fly cargo and, soon, crew to the station, compared with what it spent to operate its own fleet of space shuttles, which cost about $500 million per mission to fly.

Several of NASA's partners, in turn, have parlayed taxpayer investment into new products and services. For example, SpaceX brought back commercial satellite launch services to the United States.

The public-private partnerships also present a path forward for NASA as it looks to send astronauts beyond the station's orbit, Stallmer said.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, for example, is proposing cargo delivery services to the moon to support NASA exploration and commercial endeavors.

Follow Irene Klotz on Twitter@Free_Space.Follow us@Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

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Congress Mulls Options for Space Station Beyond 2024 - Space.com

NASA is gearing up for an intense few weeks of work aboard the International Space Station, staging three spacewalks, moving a docking port from one module to another to support commercial crew ferry ships and capturing an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship carrying nearly 4 tons of equipment and supplies.

Launch of the Cygnus spacecraft atop an Atlas 5 rocket had been planned for Monday, but late in the day Wednesday, United Launch Alliance announced a delay pending resolution of an unspecified problem with the boosters hydraulic system.

SpaceX, meanwhile, is believed to be pressing ahead with launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket next Wednesday carrying a commercial communications satellite, the California rocket builders fourth flight this year and the first launch of a used first stage recovered after an earlier mission.

But NASAs focus is on the space station, and a push to complete the three spacewalks and the launch and capture of the Cygnus cargo ship before three of the stations six crew members return to Earth April 10 to close out a 173-day stay in space. Two fresh crew members are scheduled to take off from Kazakhstan on April 20.

First up is a spacewalk Friday -- U.S. EVA-40 -- by Expedition 50 commander Shane Kimbrough and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet to carry out a variety of tasks, including work to ready a docking tunnel known as pressurized mating adapter No. 3 for a weekend move from the Tranquility module to the upper port of the forward Harmony module.

Late this year or early next, a new docking mechanism will be attached to PMA-3, providing a second port for crews flying to the station aboard Boeing- and SpaceX-built commercial crew ferry ships.

Kimbrough and Pesquet also will lubricate a robot arm grapple mechanism and install an upgraded control unit in the stations power truss that can accommodate software commanding needed for commercial crew ships. Pesquet also will inspect part of the stations ammonia coolant system to help engineers pinpoint and characterize a small leak.

On Sunday, flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston will remotely operate the labs robot arm, detaching PMA-3 from the outboard port of the Tranquility module, which extends to the left of the stations central Unity module, and moving it to Harmonys upper port.

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet aboard the International Space Station.

European Space Agency

Harmony already features a docking tunnel extending from the modules forward port, the same pressurized mating adapter once used by visiting space shuttles. That PMA now features a new docking mechanism designed for the Boeing and SpaceX crew capsules and after PMA-3 is in place atop Harmony, a second docking adapter eventually will be attached to give the station two crew docking ports.

The U.S. segment of the lab already features two ports used by unpiloted cargo ships, one extending down from Harmony and the other extending down from Unity. The Russian segment of the station features five docking ports.

NASA originally hoped to launch the Cygnus supply ship this past Sunday, but problems with a pad hydraulic system pushed the flight to Monday. Late Wednesday, a second hydraulic issue was identified, this one with the booster, and the launch was put on hold. A new launch date is not yet known.

The flight now will slip behind the launch of an SES communications satellite atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which is believed to be scheduled for liftoff at 4:59 p.m. EDT on March 29.

The next day, on March 30, Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson plan to stage a second spacewalk -- U.S. EVA-41 -- to connect power and data cables between PMA-3 and Harmony, to install micrometeoroid shields to protect the mating adapter and the Tranquility port where it had been attached and to install a second upgraded controller.

The third spacewalk, by Whitson and Pesquet, currently is planned for April 6. But EVA-42 will depend on when the Cygnus cargo ship arrives. The supply craft is carrying a cable needed to help engineers test a data circuit in a high-energy physics experiment and a replacement avionics box needed to support experiments mounted on an external stowage platform.

Assuming the Cygnus gets there in time and the spacewalk stays on schedule, Whitson and Pesquet will replace the avionics box, install a wireless antenna and a new HD television camera and help engineers troubleshoot a cooling issue with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.

Whitson will install a jumper cable, launched aboard the Cygnus, to test a long-dormant data circuit in the instrument that could be used in the future if new coolant-system pumps need to be installed. She also will take additional photographs to help engineers assess the condition of the AMSs thermal insulation.

If the Cygnus does not arrive by around April 4, sources say, the third spacewalk likely will be delayed to late April, but no decisions are expected until the problem with the Atlas 5 is resolved.

A file photo of astronaut Peggy Whitson, floating in the Destiny laboratory module. Whitson will become the worlds most experienced female spacewalker, and third on the list overall, after two upcoming EVAs outside the International Space Station.

NASA

Whenever it occurs, EVA-42, will be the 200th devoted to station assembly and maintenance since construction of the lab complex began in 1998. Some 125 astronauts and cosmonauts have worked outside the station over the years, logging more than 51 days of EVA time.

We wouldnt have space station without all these EVAs, said Kenny Todd, ISS Operations Integration Manager at the Johnson Space Center. That much is clear. We relied on our ability to go external and do the things we need to do to make the station whole. The fact that its 200 is pretty impressive. And I would tell you, were still learning.

Assuming all three spacewalks last the predicted six-and-a-half hours each, Whitson will move up to third on the list of the worlds most experienced spacewalkers, with nine excursions totaling more than 65 hours.

Cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev holds the record with 68 hours and 44 minutes of EVA time over 14 spacewalks, followed by former astronaut Mike Lopez-Alegria, whose total stands at 67 hours and 40 minutes over 10 EVAs.

With all three spacewalks complete and Cygnus safely attached, Kimbrough, Soyuz MS-02 commander Sergey Ryzhikov and flight engineer Andrey Borisenko plan to undock and return to Earth April 10, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan around 7:20 a.m. (5:20 p.m. local time).

Whitson will take over as commander of Expedition 51 when Kimbrough departs. She and her two Soyuz MS-03 crewmates -- Pesquet and Soyuz commander Oleg Novitskiy -- will have the station to themselves until April 20 when Soyuz MS-04 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA flight engineer Jack Fischer arrive after launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Soyuz ferry ships normally carry three crew members, but the Russians are dropping back to two for this flight to save money and reduce the need for supplies.

As it now stands, Whitson, Pesquet and Novitskiy plan to return to Earth June 2. But mission managers are debating the possibility of keeping Whitson in orbit until September to maximize research time.

If Whitson comes home on schedule in June, launch of the next SpaceX Dragon cargo ship, currently expected in mid May, likely will be delayed to August. With just two crew members -- Fischer and Yurchikhin -- aboard the station in June and most of July, the research gear scheduled for launch aboard the Dragon will not be needed until later in the summer, after three more crew members arrive in late July aboard the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft.

A decision on Whitsons mission is expected soon.

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Three spacewalks, cargo launch on tap for space station - CBS News

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Wow! Space station captures nighttime view of Mt. Etna eruption ... whnt.com The Expedition 50 crew aboard the International Space Station had a nighttime view from orbit of Europe's most active volcano, Mount Etna, erupting on March ... Astronauts Can See Mount Etna's Crazy Eruption From the Space StationGizmodo Astronauts Can See Mount Etna's Incredible Eruption From The Space StationGizmodo Australia See Mount Etna erupt in striking space photo - CNETCNET all 8 news articles »

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The official trailer for 'Life', starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds. Video: Sony Pictures

Space hunk: Ryan Reynolds in Life

Film Title: Life

Director: Daniel Espinosa

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare, Olga Dihovichnaya

Genre: Sci-Fi

Running Time: 104 min

A starry crew aboard the International Space Station sends a snark-talking Ryan Reynolds to snaffle a space probe returning from Mars with soil samples. Mission accomplished, lead scientist Hugh (Ariyon Bakare) pokes at the specimen until, oops, it transforms into a vagina-gremlin-starfish-monster that starts picking the crew off one by one.

Using a fabulously opportunistic bluff, Life screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have refused to rule out the possibility that Life is a prequel to Venom. Theyre talking about the incoming Spider-Man spin-off, but, having sat through their new space opera, we could have sworn they were talking about Venom, the 1981 Alien knock-off, featuring a black mamba in lieu of Aliens tentacled genital-faced extra-terrestrials.

Life, to tell the unhappy truth, looks awfully like a prequel to an Alien clone. Except set in space. And featuring tentacled, genital-faced extra-terrestrials. You see the problem, here?

The familiarities dont end there. Rebecca Fergusons security-obsessed doctor plays awfully like Tasha Yar fan-fiction from someone who never actually got around to watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. (Picture the Chief Security Officer of the USS Enterprise-D minus the charm, intellect or charisma.)

Mostly, Ferguson is stuck on repeat as she repeatedly explains what is going on, repeatedly: Theres a monster in the vents. Got it?

Overlapping dialogue makes it tricky to tell one under-developed character from another, although we do discern the odd howler of a line (This is some Re-Animator shit) and reliable old frantic Jake Gyllenhaal of Source Code fame.

There is some good news on the tech specs. The recycled plot is very much at odds with Seamus McGarveys knockout floating cinematography, Nigel Phelps multi-dimensional space station designs, and (Safe House) director Daniel Espinosas aptitude for white-knuckle runarounds.

Arriving in the same season as Alien: Covenant, Life may well prove the superior Alien rip-off. Get your Alien counterfeits: five for twenty. Apparently, in space no one can hear you plagiarise.

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Life review: There's a very familiar alien monster in those space-station vents - Irish Times

A SpaceX Dragon capsule recovered after splashdown at the end of the CRS-5 mission in 2015. Credit: SpaceX

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft returned to Earth from the International Space StationSunday.

The Dragon, flying the CRS-10 cargo mission, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Long Beach, California, at10:46 a.m.Eastern, several hours after departing the ISS.

The Dragon, which launched a month earlier, brought back more than 1,700 kilograms of cargo from the station. [CBS]

More News

A Delta 4 successfully launched an Air Force communications satelliteSaturdaynight.The Delta 4 Medium-Plus (5,4) rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at8:18 p.m.Eastern, after about a half-hour delay because of a problem with a swing arm on the gantry. The rocket placed the ninth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite into geostationary transfer orbit. Several allied countries funded the development of WGS-9 in exchange for gaining access to the entire WGS system. [SpaceNews]

SpaceX is studying landing sites on Mars for its Red Dragon and later human missions.In a talk at a conferenceSaturday, a SpaceX official said the company had been working with scientists at JPL and elsewhere to identify landing sites, particularly those located in the vicinity of subsurface water ice deposits. Some landing sites that initially looked promising have turned out to be too rocky to permit safe landings after obtaining high-resolution images of them. The first Red Dragon uncrewed Mars mission, originally planned for launch as soon as next year, is now expected to take place in 2020. [SpaceNews]

The Air Force is looking for ideas to improve the GPS system.The open-source project, called a Plug Fest, is designed tobuild applications that can easily be plugged into an open GPS architecture to improve the system or enhance its resiliency, according toLt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, the military deputy for the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. That is part of a broader effort to accelerate and normalize space acquisition. [SpaceNews]

The satellite that will be flying on SpaceXs next mission is being prepared for launch.The SES-10 satellite was fueled late last week and was scheduled to be encapsulated inside its payload fairing over the weekend. The satellite is scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center as soon asMarch 27, although no official launch date has been announced. The launch will be the first mission to use a previously flown Falcon 9 first stage, in this case one first launched on a Dragon cargo mission to the ISS last April. [Spaceflight Now]

Commercial remote sensing companies say that the regulatory environment has not caught up to changes in the industry.The regulations, which date back to the 1990s, have not been changed to reflect changing capabilities, including companies developing large constellations of satellites or new sensor technologies. Companies are seeking a more permissive environment similar to the regulation of information technologies. [SpaceNews]

The X-37B spaceplane could break a record this weekend.If the secretive Air Force vehicle remains in orbit throughSaturday, it will break the record for the longest flight of the vehicle, 674 days. The Air Force has not disclosed when the spaceplane might return to Earth. Rumors earlier this year of an impending landing of the X-37B at the Kennedy Space Center turned out to be a false alarm. [Space.com]

A resolution calling for a study of a proposed Georgia spaceport could send mixed messages, advocates of the launch site warn.The resolution, introduced recently in the Georgia legislature, calls for careful study and consideration of the proposed Camden County spaceport. State Rep. Jason Spencer, who sponsored legislation providing indemnification for spaceport users, said the resolution could send conflicting messages to the industry about the states support for the spaceport. Many of the concerns raised the resolution, he said, will be addressed in the environmental assessment that is part of the proposed spaceports FAA license application. [Brunswick (Ga.) News]

NASA has selected four teams to study topics related to exploration of the moon, Mars and other solar system destinations.The four teams join the nine that are part of NASAs Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, which examine scientific questions to advance human exploration of the solar system. The new teams will receive a combined $3-5 million a year for five years to support their research. [NASA Ames]

The Turkish parliament is considering legislation to create a national space agency.The draft bill, debated earlier this month by a parliament committee, would establish a national space agency supervised by the prime ministers office. That agency, supporters of the bill believe, can help foster the nations space industry and eventually develop a satellite launch capability. [SpaceNews]

A former Roscosmos manager facing embezzlement charges died in a Moscow jail under suspicious circumstances.Vladimir Yevdokimov was found dead in his cellSaturdaywith knife wounds to his heart and neck. Russian investigators said Yevdokimov was most likely murdered, but that they had no suspects and could also not rule out suicide. Yevdokimov was a former quality and reliability manager at Roscosmos who was arrested last December on charges of embezzling more than $3 million from aircraft manufacturer MIG. [TASS]

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SpaceX Dragon spacecraft returns to Earth from the International Space Station - SpaceNews