Category Archives: Space Station

Space Station Live: International Space Apps Challenge
Space Station Live commentator Pat Ryan recently spoke with Nick Skytland, NASA Open Innovation Project Manager, about the International Space Apps Challenge...

By: ReelNASA

Visit link:
Space Station Live: International Space Apps Challenge - Video

Russian rocket leaves for the International Space Station
An unpiloted Russian craft carrying cargo for the International Space Station has launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The ISS Progress 51 ca...

By: ITN

Read more here:
Russian rocket leaves for the International Space Station - Video

Cargo Ship delivers the Goods to Space Station
The unpiloted Russian Progress 51 cargo craft linked up to the International Space Station April 26, automatically docking to the aft port of the Zvezda Serv...

By: NASAtelevision

See the article here:
Cargo Ship delivers the Goods to Space Station - Video

Cargo Ship Overcomes Glitch, Docks to Space Station | Video
The Russian Progress 51 automatically docked to the the ISS #39;s Zvezda Service Module on April 26th, 2013. A navigational antenna did not diploy shortly after ...

By: VideoFromSpace

The rest is here:
Cargo Ship Overcomes Glitch, Docks to Space Station | Video - Video

April 26, 2013

Image Caption: An earlier Progress cargo ship prior to docking with the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Despite all odds, Russias Progress 51 cargo spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday at 8:25 a.m. EDT. A hard mate was established when docking hooks were deployed nine minutes later at 8:34 a.m.

Progress launched towards the orbiting space lab on Wednesday carrying 2.5 tons of cargo, including 1,764 pounds of propellant, 48 pounds of oxygen, 57 pounds of air, 926 pounds of water and 3,483 pounds of spare parts. However, after launch, the spacecrafts navigation antenna failed to properly deploy, casting doubt on whether Progress would even be able to make it to the Station.

Rendezvous and docking procedures with ISS are automated, but once the spacecraft is within 492 feet of the Station, Russias Mission Control Center just outside of Moscow and the Station crew monitor the approach and docking closely. Progress typically uses an automated, radar-based system called Kurs to dock with the station, but the station crew can also use the TORU system, which is a backup remote control docking system in the Stations Zvezda Service Module.

Astronauts aboard the space station had to use a soft docking to capture the cargo ship and see whether the undeployed antenna would interfere with hard docking. NASA confirmed the cargo craft completed a hard mate when the docking hooks were deployed this morning.

Flight Engineers Pavel Vinogradov and Roman Romanenko monitored the docking, standing by at the Russian (TORU) telerobotically operated rendezvous system in case manual control was needed to bring Progress in. Russian Mission Control said in the end, the cosmonauts did not have to provide manual docking.

After docking, Crew members then conducted leak checks at the docking interface and opened the hatch to the cargo craft. The Expedition 35 team will soon begin the long process of inventorying and unloading its 3.1 tons of food, fuel and equipment. Once ISS crew members finally unload Progress 51, they will be reloading it with trash and station discards. Once the ship is filled with discarded waste, it will make a scheduled deployment and return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere upon reentry.

The Russian spacecraft is expected to undock from the ISS on June 11 to make way for the ESAs Albert Einstein Automated Transfer Vehicle 4 on June 15.

More:
Russia's Damaged Progress Cargo Resupply Ship Docks With Space Station

by Nancy Atkinson on April 26, 2013

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter

International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield lifts the lid on the Water Recovery System, the first liquid recycling system to be flown in space that cleans almost all the water (greywater, urine, sweat) produced by crew members so that it can be used again. As previous space station resident Don Pettit has said, Yesterdays coffee becomes todays coffee.

Previously, Russias space station Mir recycled cosmonauts sweat, but this system on the ISS can recycle about 93 percent of the liquids it receives. The ISSs water recycler uses a distiller that looks like a keg. On Earth, distilling is a simple process of boiling water and cooling the steam back into pure water. But without gravity, the contaminants in water never separate from the steam no matter how much heat is used. So, the keg-sized distiller spins to produce an artificial gravity field while boiling the water. The contaminants in the urine or greywater press against the sides of the drum while the steam gathers in the middle and is pumped to a filter.

NASAs Water Recovery System. Credit: NASA

Tagged as: the international space station, urine recycling, water recycling

Read the original:
An Inside Look at the Water/Urine Recycling System on the Space Station

Buoyed by a flawless test launch of the Antares rocket, the heavy-lifting part of its commercial cargo resupply system for the International Space Station, Orbital Sciences Corp. has its eye on a summer demonstration flight of the company's Cygnus resupply freighter.

"I'm not going to hold my breath any less on the next one than I did on this one," said Frank Culbertson, executive vice president and general manager of Orbital's advanced programs group. "Every launch is a challenge, and you want to make sure that it's all done right."

Sunday's flight was the culmination of a six-year, $300 million effort to design, build and test the Antares booster, which can loft medium-class satellites into orbit and is contracted by NASA to launch nine more times on cargo deliveries to the space station.

It also broke in a new $140 million launch pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Launch pad 0A is owned by Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and was mostly funded by the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority.

"Early results of the engineering analysis indicate that the vehicle's all-important first stage system, including its twin liquid rocket engines, performed exactly as expected, as did other vehicle systems as well as the launch complex's propellant and pressurization equipment," said David Thompson, Orbital's chairman, president and CEO.

Culbertson said the success of Antares permits the company to move on to the next phase of its $288 million agreement with NASA, which is how the U.S. government finances development of the Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft in partnership with Orbital's own capital.

"All of that demonstrated that when we do this again, we know how to make this happen and we'll get that payload - the Cygnus - into orbit and on its way to the International Space Station, so that it can continue its mission and we can provide the cargo, the experiments, the clothing and food that they need to sustain and extend their mission."

Already fueled and loaded with cargo, the first Cygnus spacecraft will be bolted to the second Antares rocket ahead of launch from Wallops Island, Va.

Sunday's Antares test flight only sent a dummy payload into orbit.

"It's ready to be transferred into the horizontal integration facility, and as soon as the rocket is ready to receive it, we will integrate the two together and it will be ready to roll out to the pad some time this summer - probably late June or early July," Culbertson said. "So we will be on track for delivery, assuming the space station schedule can accommodate us, and we don't run into any unforeseen problems."

Follow this link:
After Antares test launch, Orbital aims for space station

Star Trek Video Game - Space Station (XBOX360/PS3/PC)
Star Trek Video Game - Space Station (XBOX360/PS3/PC) -------------- The game is expected to be a single-player action game with cooperative gameplay element...

By: MilanRE

See original here:
Star Trek Video Game - Space Station (XBOX360/PS3/PC) - Video

Space Station Live: Using EarthKAM During Earth Week
Space Station Live commentator Pat Ryan interviews Brion Au, EarthKAM Payload Developer. The NASA education program enables middle school students to take pi...

By: ReelNASA

See original here:
Space Station Live: Using EarthKAM During Earth Week - Video

Russian Cargo Freighter Heads for the International Space Station
The Russian International Space Station Progress 51 cargo craft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan April 24, headed on a two-day journey to ...

By: NASAtelevision

Originally posted here:
Russian Cargo Freighter Heads for the International Space Station - Video