Category Archives: Space Station

NASA live stream cuts out after alien UFO sighting, claims blogger
NASA live stream cuts out after alien UFO sighting, claims blogger UFO watchers are looking for anyone who might have been tracking NASA #39;s live feed of the International Space Station on Jan....

By: Real Thing TV

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NASA live stream cuts out after alien UFO sighting, claims blogger - Video

Elite: Dangerous - Seeking Luxuries - 600cr per tonne in 3 minutes
A video showing the Seeking Luxuries black market trade scenario. The Seeking Luxuries instances pops randomly in systems with a High Tech economy and a space station in a Boom state, buying...

By: Commander Reload

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Elite: Dangerous - Seeking Luxuries - 600cr per tonne in 3 minutes - Video

Veteran Crew to Fly for One Year
The launch of Soyuz TMA-16M will return three veteran space fliers to the International Space Station, with two of them embarking on the first ever yearlong mission to this vehicle.

By: ReelNASA

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Veteran Crew to Fly for One Year - Video

CU Students Work Directly With Astronauts On International Space Station
More than a dozen CU students are actively working with crew members aboard the space station on an ongoing experiment. Official Site: http://denver.cbslocal.com/ YouTube: ...

By: CBS Denver

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CU Students Work Directly With Astronauts On International Space Station - Video

Kerbal - Launch to Rendezvous under 12 minutes #2
How I Rendezvous with an orbiting space-station. Might not be efficient in Delta-V but its fast. Delivering a Munbase crew quarters to the SS Shepherd ready to be transferred and deployed to the Mun.

By: Daniel Praid

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Kerbal - Launch to Rendezvous under 12 minutes #2 - Video

Kerbal - Launch to Rendezvous under 5 minutes #1
How I Rendezvous with an orbiting space-station. Might not be efficient in Delta-V but its fast. IMC Flitwick being delivered to the SS Shepherd via the IMC London medium lifter.

By: Daniel Praid

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Kerbal - Launch to Rendezvous under 5 minutes #1 - Video

Story highlights The scare was a false alarm, NASA says The U.S. astronauts are safe, NASA says

A possible ammonia leak in the cooling system had the crew from the American segment of the station move temporarily to the Russian segment.

It was a false alarm, NASA said.

Tests indicated that the off-scale measurements were the result of a computer failure, and not an ammonia leak.

International Space Station program manager Mike Suffredini said the relocation was done as a precaution because of four measurements that were off scale. These measures could have indicated an ammonia leak.

The astronauts, as trained, put on masks, moved to the Russian segment, and closed the hatch to the American segment, he said.

Two U.S. astronauts are aboard the International Space Station: commander Barry Wilmore and flight engineer Terry Virts.

Once it was determined that the emergency was a false alarm, the astronauts still had to wait while equipment on the U.S. segment was powered back up, Suffredini said.

NASA tweeted that at 3:05 p.m. ET, the hatch was reopened and the astronauts returned. There was no ammonia in the area, NASA said.

The crew was unable to carry out experiments that were planned, but no research was lost, Suffredini said.

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Astronauts briefly relocate after false alarm - CNN.com

FILE- In this April 20, 2014, image made from a frame grabbed from NASA-TV, the SpaceX Dragon resupply capsule begins the process of being berthed on to the ISS.(AP Photo/NASA-TV, File)

Even though the ammonia leak that forced a partial evacuation of the International Space Stations U.S. section on Wednesday proved to be a false alarm, the news did raise questions on the stations durability.

Since the stations inception in 1998, the habitable satellite has endured a multitude of maintenance issues, from pump failures to damaged panels. Weve had other, what have turned out to be more serious, problems on the space station, NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz told FoxNews.com. For example, there was an actual ammonia pump failure [in 2010], and so it had to be replaced and required space walks. The actions we took [Wednesday] were for a worst-case scenario like that.

The now 17 year-old International Space Station (ISS) has been occupied for 5,187 days and circled the Earth 92,357 times, so a little wear-and-tear would seem unavoidable. While the station has been in orbit since 1998, it actually wasnt completed until recently.

The first piece of the space station was put in orbit [in 1998], but the assembly actually took quite a bit of time, and wasnt completed until 2011, Schierholz said. We were using the space shuttle to complete the building of the ISS, because we would bring pieces of the station up in the space shuttle, so every time we brought up a new piece itd change the configuration. So the building of the space station took quite a bit of time.

The road to the stations assembly saw more than its fair share of bumps along the way. Following the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, there was a two-and-a-half year suspension of the U.S. shuttle program, leading to a large waste accumulation aboard the ISS that held up operations in 2004. A computer failure in 2007 left the station temporarily without thrusters and oxygen generation, followed by a torn solar panel that same year which required astronaut Scott Parazynski to make a daring impromptu spacewalk on the end of the space shuttles OBSS inspection arm. In 2010 there was the aforementioned ammonia pump failure, which, according to Schierholz, would be the top [maintenance issue that has come up] from an unexpected work/volume of work-required [standpoint]. The interesting thing about all these [problems] is that theyre anticipated failures -- we train the astronauts for them. We do plan space walks to replace parts that we expect or are at the end of their life cycle. This failed sooner than we expected it to.

The following year saw the station almost collide with what is becoming a rapidly rising threat: orbital debris. With more and more dead satellites in orbit, the possibility of one of them hitting the ISS is a growing one. These satellites sometimes slam into one another, the ensuing blast creating thousands of pieces of orbital debris.

They are an issue, Schierholz said, because if something were to hit the space station - the ISS is traveling at 17,500 mph, a piece of debris could be travelling at the same speed, and theres going to be some damage thats caused as a result of that. The U.S. Air Force tracks any piece of debris thats bigger than a golf ball, and theres a certain amount of protection from micrometeroid debris, which is natural stuff in the universe that is too small to cause any real problems. But any debris that was put there as a result of an accident is a concern to us, especially because we have people on board. To avoid disaster, thrusters are fired to adjust the stations orbit out of harms way.

So after 17 years of dodging space junk and enduring technical problems, the question remains: how much longer can the ISS stay operational? According to NASA, for as long as the U.S. and its international partners pay to maintain it.

The space station is certified for a particular lifetime, Schierholz said. So thats how we assess the future lifespan of the space station."

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After 17 years in orbit, how durable is the International Space Station?

Story highlights Astronaut Scott Kelly to live in space one year Kelly's twin brother, Mark, will take part in a "twins study" from the ground

A year is a long time to stay anyplace. But staying a year in space has some special challenges.

There's what to pack: How many changes of clothes do you bring?

Kelly says NASA supplies most of what he needs but he's taking his own tool pouch, some sweatshirts and special shoes to use when he's lifting weights.

"I bought a special kind of shoes I thought would be better for that," Kelly said at a NASA briefing on Thursday.

Then there's what to do for a year in space. You get a great view of Earth, so the scenery is amazing. But the space station orbits Earth about every 90 minutes, or about 16 times a day. Could get a little repetitive. So how do you keep from getting bored?

Experiments. Lots and lots of experiments. NASA says space station crews normally work on about 200 experiments over six months, but Kelly will be doing many more. He says he's actually fascinated with the space station itself as a giant experiment in living in space.

"Building this facility that allows us to understand how to operate for long periods of time in space to allow us someday to go to Mars."

In his free time Kelly says he'll spend a lot of time talking to people on Earth, messaging on social media, reading email, watching TV and writing.

"I'm going to keep a personal journal of the experience," Kelly said. He also will share some of his journal with researchers studying the psychological impacts of long-term space flight. Will he tell all?

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Astronaut to spend one year in space

The first crew to embark on a yearlong International Space Station mission could help NASA get to Mars.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will launch to the space station in March with cosmonaut Gennady Padalka. Kornienko and Kelly will remain on the orbiting outpost performing research until March 2016. This mission will mark the first time a crew has spent a continuous year on the space station, and researchers are planning to take advantage of it. Scientists and doctors on the ground will monitor the way Kelly and Kornienko's bodies change throughout the year in order to understand the potential effects of long-term spaceflight (like a mission to Mars) more fully.

"As a test pilot and as an engineer, what fascinates me is the space station as a whole experiment," Kelly said during a news conference yesterday (Jan. 15). "Traveling around Earth at 17,500 mph in a vacuum, extremes of temperature and pressure, building this facility that allows us to understand how to operate for long periods of time in space to allow us someday to go to Mars." [Most Extreme Human Spaceflight Records]

Astronauts will likely need to spend more than a year in weightlessness if flying to Mars. The kind of research that Kornienko and Kelly are expected to perform in orbit could be a first step toward understanding how to mitigate any harmful changes the body might go through during a long trip in space.

NASA officials have a good sense of how the body behaves when exposed to the rigors of spaceflight for up to six months, but after that, the data is a little hazy.

Kelly will be the first American to spend a full year in space, however, Kornienko will not be the first cosmonaut to do so. A number of Russians spent a continuous year on the Mir space station in the 1980s and 1990s.

"We know a lot about six months, but we know almost nothing about what happens between six and 12 months in space," Julie Robinson, a space station program scientist, said during the news conference yesterday. Kelly and Kornienko's one-year mission is designed to help fill in the gaps between what the body experiences after six months versus what it experiences after one year.

Kornienko and Kelly's eyes will be monitored for any changes to their eyesight or ocular health during the mission, NASA officials said. Astronauts have noticed changes in intracranial pressure due to fluid shifts that can result in possibly negative changes to the eyes, scientists have said.

Scientists are also interested in monitoring the microbial environment (microbiome) inside the crewmembers, keeping tabs on their physical performance, fine motor skills, metabolism and other health factors throughout the mission.

Cosmic Quiz: Do You Know the International Space St...

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1-Year Space Station Mission May Pave NASA's Way to Mars