Category Archives: Space Station

In June 2019, the volcano on Raikoke, part of the uninhabited Kuril Islands between Russia and Japan, erupted without warning spewing dust and ash into the sky. Luckily, the International Space Station was passing over the region, and was able to capture the drama before the ash cloud settled in a few minutes.(Photo courtesy NASA/ ISS; CEO)

This image of Thors Helmet, the cloud of gas and dust named for its bulging shape and wings was shot aboard the European Space Agencys XMM-Newton satellite observatory, with optical observations from Cerro Tololo in Chile.(Photo courtesy [JA Toala & M.A. Guerrero (IAA-CSIC), Y-H. Chu (UIUC/ASIAA), RA Gruendl (UIUC), S Mazlin, J Harvey, D Verschatse & R Gilbert (SSRO-South) and ESA])

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revisited the famous Pillars of Creation, revealing a sharper and wider view of the structures in this visible-light image. The towering pillars are about 5 light-years tall.(Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))

A close-up from afar, the International Space Station captured this shot of Irans arid Kavir region in 2014. The marbled region is some 65-km across, featuring rock formations and erosion. The dark path in the centre is a lake, the odd lighter patch next to it is a sand sheet.(Photo courtesy NASA/ ISS; CEO)

Another Hubble gem, this show of the Bubble nebula, 7,100 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia, features a star that is 45 times larger than our sun.(Photo courtesy NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))

A special satellite was sent out in 1989 to take better measurements of the radiation field, with respect to what we know as Cosmic Background Radiation. This picture of its findings confirmed that the waves were indeed uniform, with only minor wrinkles.(Photo by DMR/NASA)

See that white dot? Thats us, Earth, shown from the Cassini spacecraft that flew past Saturns icy rings in 2017. Cassini was 870 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers) away from Earth when the image was taken.(Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

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Photos: How telescopes, space stations & voyaging crafts photographed Earth - Hindustan Times

A private crew of three men is scheduled to spend eight days at the International Space Station (ISS) after they each paid $55 million to join the new Ax-1 mission from Houston-based company Axiom Space.

Three men from three different countries will make the historic trip led by former NASA astronaut and Axiom vice-president Michael Lpez-Alegra, in what is "The first private ISS crew in the history of humankind," Axiom said in a tweet.

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According to an Axiom press release, the trip is scheduled for January 2022 and includes a multi-national crew made up of American Larry Connor, an entrepreneur, and non-profit activist investor, Canadian investor and philanthropist, Mark Pathy, and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe.

The first launch of the Ax-1 mission will fly on a SpaceX Crew Dragon led by mission commander Lpez-Alegra who called the group a "collection of pioneers," according to the press release.

"We sought to put together a crew for this historic mission that had demonstrated a lifelong commitment to improving the lives of the people on Earth, and I'm glad to say we've done that with this group," Axiom Space President and CEO Michael Suffredini said in the press release.

"The humanitarian leaders will lay the groundwork for a full realization of low Earth Orbit's possibilities," Axiom said

Axiom Space refers to the men as "Axionauts" and has plans to work with each of them to perform on-orbit research according to their mission goals.

Some of the research includes Connor collaborating with the Mayo Clinic; Pathy will be working with the Montreal Childrens Hospital on health-related research; while Stibbe plans to conduct research for Israeli researchers and do educational activities from orbit, according to the media release.

Each of the men will have to undergo 15 weeks of Axiom training and they will also have to pass medical tests, according to Suffredini.

"70-year-old Connor will become the second-oldest person to fly in space, after John Glenn's shuttle flight in 1998 at age 77," Marcia Dunn with the Associated Press said.

Axiom intends to offer two private missions per year to the ISS and plans to construct its own privately-funded space station.

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Crew of private astronauts pay $55 million each to visit Space Station - Chron

01/29/2021

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) and its partners are troubleshooting a failure within the on-board NA1SS amateur station in the ISS Columbus module. The problem does not appear to be with the radio equipment in Columbus, however. ARISS realized the problem when a contact with a school in Wyoming, between ON4ISS on Earth and astronaut Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, at NA1SS, had to abort when no downlink signal was heard.

Today was a tough one for ARISS, ARISS-International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, began in a message on January 28 to the ARISS team. Bauer explained that during a January 27 spacewalk to install exterior cabling on the ISS Columbus module, the current coax feed line installed 11 years ago was replaced with another built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus. It included two additional RF connectors to support the commissioning of the Bartolomeo payload-hosting platform installed last spring on Columbus.

On January 26, prior to the EVA [extravehicular activity], our Columbus next-generation radio system was shut off and the ISS-internal coaxial cable to the antenna was disconnected from the ARISS radio as a safety precaution for the EVA, Bauer said. During the spacewalk, an external four-connector coax feed line replaced one with two RF connections.

This change was made to allow ESA to connect ARISS and three additional customers to Bartolomeo, as compared to ARISS and one additional RF customer, Bauer explained.

With the spacewalk completed, the ISS crew restarted the ISS ham radio station on January 28, but no voice repeater or automatic packet repeater system (APRS) downlink reports were heard. During a scheduled school contact at 1746 UTC, no downlink signal was heard either, and the attempted contact had to be terminated.

Clearly, there is an issue, Bauer continued. More troubleshooting will be required. It may be the new external RF cable that was installed during yesterdays EVA. It might also [have been caused by] the connect and disconnect of the interior coaxial (RF) cable. So, the interior cable cannot be totally discounted yet.

Bauer said the crew photographed the coaxial cable and connector attached to the ARISS radio inside the ISS. Because the exterior cable is a Bartolomeo cable and not an ARISS cable, we are working with ESA and NASA on a way forward, he said. NASA has opened a Payload Anomaly Report on this issue. We have talked to both the NASA and ESA representatives.

Bauer said ARISS has asked its Russian team lead Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, if ARISS could temporarily use the RS0ISS radio in the ISS Service Module for school contacts that are already scheduled until ARISS can resolve the issue.

On behalf of the ARISS International Board, the ARISS Delegates, and the entire team, I want to thank all of you for your tremendous volunteer support to ARISS, Bauer said. We will get through this and be more resilient as a result.

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ARISS and Partners Are Investigating Space Station Ham Radio Failure - ARRL

(NEXSTAR) The International Space Station experienced a recent celestial show, capturing the earths auroras from high above the planets atmosphere.

The newly released photos show streaks of green and blue and even red dancing across the darkened night sky.

The stations orbit takes it as high 51.6 above the equator offering awe-inspiring views of the Earths aurora in between the city lights and the twinkling stars, the ISP said on Twitter.

Auroras, also known as polar lights, are visible from land, as well as space. They are caused by collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun and gaseous particles in the earths atmosphere.

They can extend as high as 400 miles above the surface of the earth.

According to the Northern Lights Centre, the best places to watch the lights in North America are in the northwestern regions of Canada, including the Yukon and Northwest Territories.

The auroras can also be seen over the south of Greenland and Iceland, off the northern coast of Norway and over the waters of northern Siberia. Southern auroras, called aurora australis, are concentrated in a ring around Antarctica and the southern Indian Ocean.

Auroral activity is cyclic, and the lights tend to peak in intensity every 11 years.

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PHOTOS: See the auroras light show from the International Space Station - FOX40

An astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) shot this photograph of a portion of Padre Island, a long barrier island along the southern Texas coast.

Once an unbroken stretch of land, the island was separated into North and South Padre with the cutting of Mansfield Channel in 1962. The channel connected the fishing community of Port Mansfield to the Gulf of Mexico and established a new harbor between Corpus Christi and Brownsville.

Jetties mark the entrance from the Gulf into the channel; dredge spoils from the excavation line the southern side. Those jetties disrupt the natural longshore transport of sediment along the coast, causing sand to erode on the north side and build up on the south side. For this reason, the beach appears wider and extends farther seaward on South Padre Island. Stretching north from the channel, Padre Island National Seashore protects nearly 80 miles (130 kilometers) of beaches for nature and recreation.

North and South Padre Islands are well known for attracting tourists and beachgoers, but they have also intrigued scientists. This photograph was taken in response to a request made by scientists to the NASA Crew Earth Observations team. Researchers are investigating changes in dune morphology and in the microorganisms that live on the surface of the island.

As is typical of many barrier islands, sand dunes line the coast of Padre, forming a natural barricade and mitigating inland damage from storms like hurricanes. Extensive microbial matsmulti-layered sheets of microorganisms such as bacteriatake advantage of this natural protection and thrive in the protected tidal flats along the backshore of Padre Island. These areas of rich microbial life stand out as darker sections of beach in the photo. Microbial mats like these are among the oldest forms of life that have been identified within Earths rock record. Many scientists believe that such mats are the best astrobiological analogues for how life might have existed on Mars.

Astronaut photograph ISS063-E-76217 was acquired on August 20, 2020, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using an 800 millimeter lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 63 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by Sara Schmidt, GeoControl Systems, JETS Contract at NASA-JSC.

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Sands and Mats at Padre Island - nasa.gov

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New observations of Earths lightning as seen in outer space is throwing light to greater understanding of the subject. Several blue jets and elves captured from a new telescope can even provide insight into how greenhouse gases are concentrated in Earth's atmosphere. The research has been published in Natureon 20 January and the paper defines blue jets as "lightning-like, atmospheric electric discharges of several hundred millisecond duration that fan into cones as they propagate from the top of thunderclouds into the stratosphere".

The blue jet phenomenon has remained poorly understood because of limited monitoring capabilities of on-the-ground telescopes. This changed when International Space Station's Atmosphere Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) observatory caught a blue jet or blue lightning. This observatory has the ability to look at lightning from space and recently captured a single blue jet and four elves optical and ultraviolet emissions from the bottom of the ionosphere duringa thunderstorm.

"Looking down on Earth's weather from the International Space Station 400 km above, ASIM's enhanced perspective is shedding new light on weather phenomena and their characteristics," a statement from the European Space Agency (ESA) said ASIM has been on the International Space Station since 2018 and has various equipment like photometers (used for measuring light intensity), optical cameras, an X-ray and gamma-ray detector for carrying out its observation. The statement added that such "bizarre-sounding" phenomena as the blue jets are "very difficult to observe from the surface of the Earth" and hence has kept disillusioning scientists for years.

The paper said that the lightning flashes were observed in the central Pacific Ocean, close to the island of Nauru during a thunderstorm. The ASIM had captured the blue jet to shoot up from a cloud and result in an intense five 10-microsecond flash. Researchers think these phenomena could even influence the concentration of greenhouse gasses in Earths atmosphere, thereby making their research more crucial.

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Captivating 'blue jets', 'elves' spotted over Pacific Ocean by observatory at space station - Firstpost

The first private excursion to the International Space Station includes a crew of former NASA astronaut Michael Lpez-Alegra (from left) along with Canadian Mark Pathy, American Larry Connor and Israeli Eytan Stibbe. Axiom Space hide caption

The first private excursion to the International Space Station includes a crew of former NASA astronaut Michael Lpez-Alegra (from left) along with Canadian Mark Pathy, American Larry Connor and Israeli Eytan Stibbe.

A crew of private astronauts will pay around $55 million each to spend about eight days at the International Space Station next January in what would be a new step for joint private-public space missions. Axiom Space, a Houston company, says the trip will be led by former NASA astronaut and space station commander Michael Lpez-Alegra.

The proposed Ax-1 mission will use a SpaceX rocket to put three paying customers American Larry Connor, Canadian Mark Pathy and Israeli Eytan Stibbe into low-Earth orbit on the space station. All of the trio are wealthy entrepreneurs and investors. The group will be under the command of Lpez-Alegra, who is now an executive at Axiom.

It would be the first time an entirely private mission sends astronauts to the International Space Station. Russia sold the first ride to the station to a private citizen, American businessman Dennis Tito, in 2001.

All of the private astronauts for the upcoming mission are far older than the average NASA astronaut's age of 34. The space agency does not have age restrictions for astronaut candidates, who generally range from 26 to 46 years old. At 70, Connor is surpassed in age only by John Glenn, who flew on the space shuttle when he was 77.

Under NASA's rules for private astronaut missions, Axiom must ensure its astronauts meet the space agency's medical standards. They must also undergo training and certification procedures required for crew members of the International Space Station.

While the paying customers represent a new era of space tourism, they will also perform research as the space station whizzes over the Earth.

Connor will work with the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic on research projects, Axiom says, while Pathy will collaborate with the Canadian Space Agency and the Montreal Children's Hospital. Stibbe plans to do experiments for Israeli researchers, working with the Ramon Foundation and Israel's space agency.

"We sought to put together a crew for this historic mission that had demonstrated a lifelong commitment to improving the lives of the people on Earth, and I'm glad to say we've done that with this group," Axiom Space President and CEO Michael Suffredini said as the company announced the crew.

Similar missions are planned for the future, Suffredini said. Axiom hopes to arrange up to two trips per year and the company also wants to build its own privately funded space station. Under that plan, its modules would be attached to the space station as soon as 2024. And when the space station is retired, the Axiom modules would break off to continue in orbit on their own.

NASA announced its plans to open the International Space Station to commercial activities in June 2019, saying it wants businesses to use innovation and ingenuity to speed up development of "a thriving commercial economy in low-Earth orbit."

The space agency has a plan to recoup the steep costs of a private citizen visiting the space station. Its pricing policy lists expenses such as a daily fee of $11,250 per person for "regenerative life support and toilet" and $22,500 per person for crew supplies such as food and air. The price sheet also includes a data plan, priced at $50 per gigabyte.

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1st Private Crew Will Visit Space Station. The Price Tag: $55 Million Each - NPR

Two NASA astronauts will upgrade a crucial International Space Station science module in orbit during a spacewalk today (Jan. 27), and you can watch the whole thing live.

The spacewalk is expected to start at 7 a.m. EST (1130 GMT) if the final suit-up procedures go to plan, and to last about six and a half hours, according to NASA. Coverage will start at 5:30 a.m. EST (1000 GMT), and you can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV.

Floating in space will be flight engineers Michael Hopkins (on his third spacewalk, wearing red stripes on his spacesuit as he is lead spacewalker) and Victor Glover (on his first).

Related: The International Space Station: inside and out (infographic)

During today's spacewalk the astronauts will focus on finishing essential cable and antenna setup for a new research platform, Bartolomeo, outside the European Space Agency's Columbus module. Bartolomeo will host up to 12 research experiments simultaneously in fields such as astrophysics, robotics and material physics.

Other spacewalking tasks will include configuring a high-speed Ka-band terminal that will allow the science module to communicate independently with European ground stations, and removing a grapple fixture bracket to prepare for future power system upgrades, NASA added.

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At least three more spacewalks are on tap for the Expedition 64 crew, including one with the same astronauts on Monday (Feb. 1), when Glover and Hopkins will install the final lithium-ion battery adapter plate to wrap up four years of crucial battery upgrades on the space station, which replaced older and less powerful nickel-hydrogen batteries.

Other tasks on Monday's spacewalk include removing another grapple fixture bracket, installing two cameras, and replacing components for the Japanese robotic arm's camera system outside the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Kibo module.

A third spacewalk (date to be announced) will see Glover and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins prepare the space station power system for a power boost using new solar arrays. The fourth extravehicular activity also not yet scheduled will have Rubins and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi do more station upgrades, which NASA will outline during a future media briefing.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Astronauts are taking a spacewalk today to upgrade a space station science module. Watch it live! - Space.com

An illustration of Axiom modules connected to the International Space Station.

Three civilians could be headed to the International Space Station. Houston-based space tourism company Axiom Space said Tuesday it will send a crew of three private citizens, plus its vice president and former NASA astronaut Michael Lpez-Alegra, to the ISS for an eight-day stay, no earlier than January 2022.

The crew includes American entrepreneur and investor Larry Connor, who will be the pilot; Canadian philanthropist and investor Mark Pathy; and Eytan Stibbe, a former Israeli Air Force pilot who's also an investor and philanthropist. To get to the ISS, they'll hitch a ride on the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

The crew will live aboard the US segment of the ISS during their proposed mission and participate in research and philanthropic projects, according to Axiom. Some of the proposed collaborations include work with the Mayo Clinic, the Montreal Children's Hospital and the Canadian Space Agency. Stibbe also plans to conduct scientific experiments of Israeli researchers and entrepreneurs coordinated by the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Space Agency, the space company said.

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"As much as any astronaut who has come before them, the members of this crew have accomplished the sorts of things in life that equip them to accept that responsibility, act on that revelation, and make a truly global impact," Lpez-Alegra said in a statement.

The crew (from left): Michael Lpez-Alegra, Mark Pathy, Larry Connor and Eytan Stibbe.

Axiom plans to offer a new commercial gateway to space, allowing researchers, manufacturers and wealthy tourists, among others, to visit orbit for work or pleasure.

In 2018, The New York Times reported that the price tag for a trip like this would be $55 million per person, and cover 15 weeks of training.

Last year, NASA said it would attach a private room to rent onto the ISS, provided by Axiom.

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Axiom reveals private crew paying $55 million each for a trip to the space station - CNET

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) The first private space station crew was introduced Tuesday: Three men who are each paying $55 million to fly on a SpaceX rocket.

Theyll be led by a former NASA astronaut now working for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the trip for next January.

This is the first private flight to the International Space Station. Its never been done before, said Axioms chief executive and president Mike Suffredini, a former space station program manager for NASA.

While mission commander Michael Lopez-Alegria is well known in space circles, the other three guys are just people who want to be able to go to space, and were providing that opportunity, Suffredini told The Associated Press.

The first crew will spend eight days at the space station, and will take one or two days to get there aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule following liftoff from Cape Canaveral.

Russia has been in the off-the-planet tourism business for years, selling rides to the International Space Station since 2001. Other space companies like Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin plan to take paying customers on up-and-down flights lasting just minutes. These trips much more affordable with seats going for hundreds of thousands versus millions could kick off this year.

Axioms first customers include Larry Connor, a real estate and tech entrepreneur from Dayton, Ohio, Canadian financier Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe, a close friend of Israels first astronaut Ilan Ramon, who was killed in the space shuttle Columbia accident in 2003.

These guys are all very involved and doing it for kind of for the betterment of their communities and countries, and so we couldnt be happier with this makeup of the first crew because of their drive and their interest, Suffredini said.

Each of these first paying customers intends to perform science research in orbit, he said, along with educational outreach.

Lopez-Alegria, a former space station resident and spacewalking leader, called the group a collection of pioneers.

Tom Cruise was mentioned last year as a potential crew member; NASA top officials confirmed he was interested in filming a movie at the space station. There was no word Tuesday on whether Cruise will catch the next Axiom flight. Suffredini declined to comment.

Each of the private astronauts had to pass medical tests and will get 15 weeks of training, according to Suffredini. The 70-year-old Connor will become the second-oldest person to fly in space, after John Glenns shuttle flight in 1998 at age 77. Hell also serve under Lopez-Alegria as the capsule pilot.

Axiom plans about two private missions a year to the space station. It also is working to launch its own live-in compartments to the station beginning in 2024. This section would be detached from the station once its retired by NASA and the international partners, and become its own private outpost.

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3 men, including Ohio entrepreneur, paying to fly to space station; Heres what it will cost them - WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland