Category Archives: Space Station

September 23, 2014

Image Caption: Despite running the International Space Station with just three crewmembers, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman used the Stations 17 m-long Canadarm2 robotic arm to capture and berth the fourth Dragon supply vessel. Credit: NASA

NASA

The Dragon commercial cargo craft has completed a two day trip to the International Space Station after launching early Sunday morning. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst were at the controls of the robotics workstation in the Cupola when the Canadarm2 grappled Dragon at 6:52 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

Dragon will spend the next four weeks attached to the Harmony node as the Expedition 41 trio unloads 4,885 pounds of (2,216 kg) crew supplies, hardware, experiments, computer gear and spacewalk equipment. This is the fourth SpaceX mission for NASAs Commercial Resupply Services contract, designated SpaceX CRS-4, with eight more missions slated to deliver a minimum of 20 metric tons to the station.

[ Watch the Video: US Cargo Ship Arrives And Grapples At The International Space Station ]

One of the new Earth science experiments Dragon has delivered is the ISS-Rapid Scatterometer to be installed outside the Columbus laboratory. The remote sensing instrument will use radar pulses to observe the speed and direction of winds over the ocean for the improvement of weather forecasting.

ISS-RapidScat replaces a similar device, QuickScat, which is an inoperable satellite orbiting Earth that performed the same functionality. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory partnered with the International Space Station Program Office to quickly deploy RapidScat which is actually a spare QuickScat device modified for operations on the space station.

Another experiment, one designed by students, will observe fruit flies as a research model for learning how diseases work at the cellular and molecular levels. Ames Research Center has partnered with NanoRacks, a private firm with research facilities on the station, and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to support the Ames Student Fruit-Fly Experiment (AFEX) on the orbital laboratory.

At the end of its stay Dragon will be filled with cargo to be returned to Earth where it will be retrieved in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California after splashdown. Nearly 3,300 pounds (1,486 kg) of cargo will be packed inside Dragon including research for analysis by scientists and computer parts and vehicle hardware to be checked out by engineers.

Excerpt from:
Fourth Dragon For Commercial Resupply Services Arrives At Station

Flipping through online photo albums and social media collections of "selfies" is one thing, but when pictures can show land areas where millions of people live, it can put things in a completely different perspective -- especially for scientists.

One of NASA's newest tools for effective Earth observation has been orbiting our planet for more than 15 years. The International Space Station provides a constant, reliable perspective from which to record changes on the surface of Earth.

A new user-friendly online resource will provide images from a space station camera with nearly two years of images to share. The interface is a world map that links to thousands of images made by the ISERV camera: the International Space Station SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System. With the click of a mouse, the public can access the images with the ISERV Viewer.

People can view and download specific ISERV captures from a collection of more than 4,000 Earth images. ISERV scientists plan to expand the database to about 60,000 by summer 2015.

ISERV was installed as a technology testbed in the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF) on the orbiting laboratory in January 2013 and is scheduled to be removed from operation in 2015. The camera receives and acts on commands from the ISERV team to acquire image data of specific areas of Earth's surface as the space station passes overhead.

Images from ISERV are uploaded quickly to the web due to a new automated georeferencing capability, allowing imagery to be processed and published much faster. This is critically important when dealing with a disaster situation. Georeferencing is a process in which points in an image can be associated with geographic locations on a map. Developed by the ISERV ground team, the automated system uses the space station orbit and position data, along with the acquisition time information contained within each image to establish location on Earth and post it on the online map.

The ISERV camera is part of the SERVIR Earth observation program. For 10 years, SERVIR -- an acronym meaning "to serve" in Spanish -- has been a successful collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. The program provides satellite-based Earth observation data and science applications to help developing nations in Central America, Africa and Asia assess environmental threats and the damage from -- and their response to -- natural disasters.

"ISERV has demonstrated the value of Earth observation from the International Space Station for decision makers and disaster responders around the world," says Burgess Howell, ISERV principal investigator at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "This new image portal will provide public access to a vast array of images over much of the populated area of Earth."

With ISERV, the SERVIR team has pioneered using the space station to support humanitarian relief and disaster support in underserved regions of the globe.

"Nearly 95 percent of the planet's populated area is visible during the station's orbit," said William Stefanov, PhD., associate program scientist for Earth observations in the International Space Station Program Science Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Imagery captured by ISERV provides valuable information to the scientists and governments around the world to assist in environmental assessments and disaster situations."

More here:
New ISERV tool enables rapid view of Earth images from space

[NASA] Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 with CRS-4 for International Space Station
SPACEX COVERAGE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH5EErE8QnI SpaceX launched their 6th Falcon 9 rocket of the year today and 13th overall at 05:52 UTC, September 21st 2014 from Space Launch...

By: SpaceVids.tv

Excerpt from:
[NASA] Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 with CRS-4 for International Space Station - Video

Liftoff of SpaceX-4
The SpaceX-4 Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 1:52 a.m. EDT.

By: NASAKennedy

Read this article:
Liftoff of SpaceX-4 - Video

SpaceX cargo ship blasts off toward space station
SpaceX #39;s unmanned Dragon cargo ship blasts off toward the International Space Station, carrying a load of supplies and science experiments for the astronauts living there. The spacecraft launched...

By: malaysiakini

Read more here:
SpaceX cargo ship blasts off toward space station - Video

SpaceX Dragon launches to the ISS
NASA Television coverage of the September 21 launch of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft on the company #39;s CRS-4 mission to the International Space Station. The spacecraft #39;s 2.5 tons of supplies,...

By: NASA

Read more here:
SpaceX Dragon launches to the ISS - Video

Airplanes take us to the Skies; i.e. Int. Space Station (Satellite)
Jesus said "I go to prepare a place for you and if I go... I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am ye may be also" In 1st Thessalonians 4: 15-17 portrays we "Shall meet...

By: Lewellable

Read the original:
Airplanes take us to the Skies; i.e. Int. Space Station (Satellite) - Video

Expedition 41 Soyuz Prepared for Launch to Station
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft was encapsulated into the third stage of its Soyuz booster rocket Sept. 19 as preparations continued for the Sept. 26...

By: ReelNASA

Read the original post:
Expedition 41 Soyuz Prepared for Launch to Station - Video

The International Space Station accepted another SpaceX shipment containing the first 3-D printer ever launched into orbit.

The SpaceX cargo ship, Dragon, has arrived at the space station two days after blasting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

German astronaut Alexander Gerst used a robot arm to grab the capsule.

The Dragon is delivering more than 5,000lbs of supplies, with the 3-D printer - an experimental model taking top billing among the payload.

Also on board are mice and flies for biological research, fresh spacesuit batteries so Nasa can resume routine spacewalks, and a 30 million dollar (18 million) instrument to measure ocean wind.

Nasa is paying California-based company SpaceX to stock the station. Last week, the firm won the right to transport astronauts, although that is still a few years off.

The Dragon will remain at the orbiting outpost for about a month, where it will be filled with experimental materials and data for return to Earth.

The Dragon is the only unmanned cargo capsule capable of returning items, and this mission marks its fifth visit to the space station.

Another spacecraft is due to arrive in another couple days.

Russia is poised to launch a Soyuz spacecraft from Kazakhstan on Thursday with a three-person crew. That will bring the number of astronauts at the space station to the usual six.

See the article here:
Space Station gets its own 3D printer in Dragon delivery

BBC News Nasa chooses companies to build new US spacecraft
The United States is getting ready to send manned rockets into space once again. Nasa has chosen two private companies to build a new generation of spacecraft that will take their astronauts...

By: Newsfor Today

See the rest here:
BBC News Nasa chooses companies to build new US spacecraft - Video