Category Archives: Space Station

Taking Care of Spills on the Space Station | CSA ISS Science Video
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Taking Care of Spills on the Space Station | CSA ISS Science Video - Video

Activities aboard the International Space Station (ISS) continue to ramp up for next weeks departure of three crew members and the arrival of three new residents at the end of the month.

Nevertheless, the Expedition 34 crew still managed to tackle quite an impressive workload of science and station maintenance this week.

For example, Commander Kevin Ford, who will be heading back to Earth on March 14 with Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin, spent much of Wednesday morning inside the Kibo module removing hardware for the recently completed Marangoni experiment from the Fluid Physics Experiment Facility.

After uninstalling the hardware for this study of the Marangoni effect - the flow of liquids caused by surface tension the commander thanked the teams in Japan supporting this experiment as well as the recent Medaka fish experiment.

"Marangoni and Medaka represent exactly why we need to be up here in zero gravity doing those experiments. Those are both so unique they could never be done on Earth," said Ford.

The commander rounded out his day with departure preparations as he, Novitskiy and Tarelkin get their Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft packed up and ready for the journey back to Earth. The three are scheduled to undock from the station around 8:30 p.m. EDT on March 14, landing in the steppe of Kazakhstan northeast of the remote town of Arkalyk about 3 hours later to wrap up 143 days in space, 141 aboard the station.

Flight Engineer Chris Hadfield, who will become commander of Expedition 35 when Fords Soyuz undocks, worked with a variety of physics experiments throughout the day. Hadfield first checked in on the Coarsening in Solid Liquid Mixtures-3 experiment, which investigates the rates of coarsening of solid particles embedded in a liquid matrix. This experiment was just one part of the 1,200 pounds of science, hardware and crew supplies delivered to the station aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft on Sunday.

Hadfield also worked with the Binary Colloidal Alloy Test science payload, which analyzes colloids - microscopic particles suspended in a liquid - and may lead to improvements in manufacturing processes here on Earth. Finally, Hadfield set up the Microflow technology demonstration hardware and tested biological samples with its miniaturized flow cytometer.

Meanwhile, Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn reached the midpoint of a 48-hour data collection run as sensors attached to his body record information for the Integrated Cardiovascular experiment. Researchers are studying the atrophy of the heart muscle that appears to occur during long-duration spaceflight in order to develop countermeasures to keep the crew healthy. The research may also have benefits for people on Earth with heart problems.

Marshburn also installed a GLACIER freezer in the EXPRESS rack to store research samples at ultra-cold temperatures. Two GLACIER science freezers were delivered to the station by Dragon, one of which will come back aboard Dragon after being filled with experiments and biological samples for study on Earth.

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International Space Station prepares for new crew members

Some students at Stonepark Intermediate School in Charlottetown had the opportunity to pose questions to International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield on Thursday afternoon.

The grade nine students had been taking time to prepare in advance for the 10-minute visit, learning all about NASA and Hadfield, the first Canadian to command the International Space Station. Contact was made through ham radio. Fourteen students had a chance to ask Hadfield a question, including a question about the differences in everyday life on a space station compared to on Earth.

"You can't take a shower, so we sponge bath but that's not so bad. It's sort of like someone in the hospital. We have to use waterless shampoo," said Hadfield.

"You try and lead a normal life but all of it is a little different when you are going around the world at eight kilometres a second."

Some students said the experience inspired them to study space as a career. Hadfield said his inspiration was Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.

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Space station commander fields student questions

The International Space Station is now home to more than 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of supplies delivered by an unmanned, privately built space capsule that reached the orbiting science laboratory on Sunday (March 3).

Among the goods SpaceX's Dragon capsule transported to the station were science experiments primed and ready for the six international residents of the space station.

"Dragon is scheduled to return to Earth on March 25, bringing home nearly double the amount of supplies it brought up, about 2,668 pounds (1,210 kilograms)," NASA officials said in a statement. "Returning investigation samples will demonstrate how life in microgravity affects the growth of plant seedlings, changes to the human body, the behavior of semiconductors and detergents, and more."

Some of the experiments will only stay on board for three weeks, making a round trip back to Earth with Dragon when the capsule detaches from the station. One of those experiments involves thale cress, a plant used in many experiments because of its small, relatively easy-to-map genome.

Scientists affiliated with NASA and the European Space Agency sent up one experiment called "Seedling Growth-1," designed to investigate how well plants grow amid stresses such as low oxygen. [See video of SpaceX's Dragon docking in orbit]

"The experiment will study how plants adapt to micro- and low-gravity environments," NASA officials wrote in a statement. "Researchers hope to determine the ability of vegetation to provide a complete, sustainable, dependable and economical means for human life-support in space."

Beyond helping scientists learn how to grow food in space, the research might contribute to better agricultural practices back on Earth. Understanding how these plants react to a stressful environment could lend insight into how farmers could mitigate those taxing situations back on the planet's surface.

Some of the experiments sent to theInternational Space Station will play a role in education, as well.

"Students from several California schools developed investigations to study bacteria, iron corrosion, battery performance and carbon dioxide levels aboard the station, all of which will be delivered by Dragon," NASA officials wrote in a statement.

Personal product manufacturer Procter & Gamble sent up another experiment that will study how to better preserve toothpaste, gels and creams.

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Private SpaceX Capsule Brings Big Science to Space Station

The next crew to launch toward the International Space Station will make the trip faster than any astronauts before them, thanks to a new docking plan being tested this month.

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin are set to launch to the space station March 28 at4:43 p.m. EDT (2043 GMT) aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule. While it normally takes Soyuz vehicles two days to reach the orbiting laboratory after launch, Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin will make the trip in just six hours.

"I think it's much more interesting when you fly faster," Vinogradov said during a press conference at the crew's Star City, Russia training site. "It's just like in a train," he added, saying he preferred to make quick train trips rather than spend many hours traveling.

Vinogradov and his crew are performing their final mission training for the Soyuz launch from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where the local time will be March 29 at liftoff. The six-hour journey will include just four orbits of Earth, officials said.

The new travel scheme has been previously successfully tested with unmanned Russian Progress cargo ships, but never before with manned spacecraft. Officials say the time has come to speed up travel to the space station because spacecraft have become more automated, so the strain on ground-based Mission Control teams isn't so great.

"Now we have onboard a new machinery and new software so the vehicle is more autonomous right now, so it is the possibility to do a lot onboard the vehicle and to calculate the burns so they are not consuming a lot of fuel," said veteran cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, vice president of Russia's RSC Energia spaceflight company in charge of manned spaceflights.

The three new space station crewmembers will join an existing crew trio to complete the Expedition 35 crew aboard the International Space Station. When that mission changes over to Expedition 36 in May, Vinogradov will take over as commander of the station.

Cassidy and Vinogradov are veteran spaceflyers, but Misurkin will be making his first trip to orbit. The three will spend about six months in space, returning to Earth in September.

"I think it should be the most exciting trip in my life," Misurkin said.

Follow Clara Moskowitz @ClaraMoskowitz and Google+. Follow us@Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article onSPACE.com.

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US-Russian Crew Launching to Space Station in Record Time

The Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Dragon spacecraft was berthed to the International Space Station at 8:56 a.m. EST Sunday. The delivery flight was the second contracted resupply mission by the company under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract.

Space station Expedition 34 crew members Kevin Ford and Tom Marshburn of NASA used the station's robotic arm to successfully capture Dragon at 5:31 a.m. The capture came one day, 19 hours and 22 minutes after the mission's launch. The station was 253 miles above northern Ukraine. Following its capture, the spacecraft was installed onto the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module through ground commands issued by mission control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"The newly arrived scientific experiments delivered by Dragon carry the promise of discoveries that benefit Earth and dramatically increase our understanding of how humans adapt to space," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate in Washington. "Spaceflight will never be risk-free, but it's a critical achievement that we once again have a U.S. capability to transport science to and from the International Space Station. The science delivered and to be returned from the space station has the promise of giving us a unique insight into problems that we face on Earth. As the patch of Expedition 34 states: 'Off the Earth...For the Earth.'"

The Dragon spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 10:10 a.m. Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Shortly after spacecraft separation from the rocket's second stage, the Dragon lost three of its four thruster pods. Solar array deployment was delayed while SpaceX engineers worked to purge blocked valves and get the pods back online. Ninety minutes after launch, Dragon's arrays were deployed. By 3 p.m., all four thruster pods were online and attitude control was regained.

Following a series of tests to ensure the spacecraft could safely approach the space station, Dragon was approved to approach the orbiting laboratory Sunday morning, one day after its originally planned arrival, which is not expected to impact any of the scientific investigations being delivered.

Dragon is loaded with about 1,268 pounds (575 kilograms) of supplies to support continuing space station research experiments and will return with about 2,668 pounds (1,210 kilograms) of science samples from human research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations, and education activities.

Newly delivered investigations include studies of how molecular biology, cells and plants grow in microgravity. One experiment, titled Coarsening in Solid Liquid Mixtures-3, will examine solid and liquid mixtures made of lead and tin that contain a small amount of tin branch-like structures called dendrites. By understanding how temperature and time control the growth of such dendrites, researchers hope to develop more efficient and economical means of producing higher-quality products derived from the casting of molten metals. New student experiments include observing how gravity changes the growth of E. coli bacteria, studying the long-term impact of space travel on small coin-cell-sized batteries, and producing ammonium aluminum sulfate crystals of higher purity than is possible on Earth.

Experiment samples coming back to Earth will help researchers continue to assess the impact of long-duration spaceflight on the human body. Returning plant samples will aid in food production during future long-duration space missions and enhance crop production on Earth. Crystals grown aboard and returning from the station could help in the development of more efficient solar cells and semiconductor-based electronics.

The Dragon capsule is scheduled to spend 22 days attached to the station before returning for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California March 25.

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SpaceX's Dragon Carrying NASA Cargo Resupplies Space Station

A privately owned Dragon capsule has arrived at the International Space Station, delivering a tonne of supplies with high-flying finesse after a shaky start to the mission.

The Dragon's arrival was one day late but especially sweet - and not because of the fresh fruit on board for the station astronauts who snared the capsule.

SpaceX, the California-based company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, had to struggle with the Dragon following its launch on Friday from Cape Canaveral. A clogged pressure line or stuck valve prevented thrusters from working, and it took flight controllers several hours to gain control and salvage the mission.

In the end, the Dragon approached the orbiting lab with its load about as smoothly as could be expected, with all of its thrusters, or little manoeuvring rockets, operating perfectly. The capture occurred as the two spacecraft zoomed 400km above Ukraine.

'As they say, it's not where you start, but where you finish that counts,' space station commander Kevin Ford said, 'and you guys really finished this one on the mark.'

Among the items on board: 640 seeds of a flowering weed used for research, mouse stem cells, food and clothes for the six men on board the space station, garbage bags, computer equipment, air purifiers, spacewalking tools and batteries. The company also tucked away apples and other fresh treats from an employee's family orchard.

The Dragon will remain at the space station for most of March before returning to Earth with science samples, empty food containers and old equipment.

SpaceX - Space Exploration Technologies Corp - has a $US1.6 billion ($A1.58 billion) contract with NASA to keep the station well stocked.

Musk, who helped create PayPal, acknowledged the problem was 'frightening', but believed it was a one-time glitch.

The 41-year-old entrepreneur, who also runs the electric car maker Tesla, oversaw the entire operation from Hawthorne, California, home to SpaceX and the company's Mission Control.

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SpaceX capsule arrives at space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule overcame a potentially mission-ending technical problem to make a belated but welcome arrival at the International Space Station on Sunday.

Astronauts aboard the outpost used the station's robotic arm to pluck the capsule from orbit at 5:31 a.m. EST as the ships sailed 250 miles over northern Ukraine.

Flight controllers at NASA's Mission Control in Houston then stepped in to drive the capsule to its berthing port on the station's Harmony connecting node. Docking occurred at 8:44 a.m. EST.

The Dragon capsule, loaded with more than 2,300 pounds (1,043 kg) of science equipment, spare parts, food and supplies, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the second of 12 planned supply runs for NASA.

SpaceX is the first private company to fly to the station, a $100 billion project of 15 nations.

Dragon was to have arrived at the station on Saturday but a problem with its thruster rocket pods developed soon after reaching orbit. Engineers sent commands for Dragon to flip valves and clear any blockage in a pressurization line in an attempt to salvage the mission.

By Friday evening, Dragon had fired its thruster rockets to raise its altitude and begin steering itself to rendezvous with the station.

The orbital ballet ended when station commander Kevin Ford, working from a robotics station inside the outpost, grabbed the capsule with the station's robot arm.

"As they say, it's not where you start but where you finish that counts. You guys really finished this one on the mark," Ford radioed to Dragon's flight control team in Hawthorne, California, and NASA's Mission Control in Houston.

"What a fantastic day," Ford said.

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SpaceX cargo capsule reaches International Space Station

NASA / SpaceX via Twitter

A video view from the International Space Station shows SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule in the grip of the station's robotic arm, with Earth below.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

Astronauts used the International Space Station's robotic arm to grab SpaceX's Dragon capsule on Sunday after the unmanned spacecraft made a dramatic recovery in orbit. The grapple operation reached its successful climax an hour ahead of schedule,proving that the unmanned capsule had fully recovered from a post-launch glitchthat affected its propulsion system.

NASA and California-based SpaceX decided to go ahead with Sunday's rendezvous after the Dragon made a series of orbital maneuvers that demonstrated the craft's thrusters were operating normally. When the Dragon closed in to a distance of 33 feet (10 meters), the Canadian-built robotic arm reached out and latched onto an attachment on the cargo ship.

The robotic-arm grapple was originally scheduled to take place at 6:31 a.m. ET, but it occurred instead at 5:31 a.m., as the station was flying 253 miles (407 kilometers) over Ukraine.

NASA's Mission Control and the space station's astronauts exchanged congratulations. "That was a brilliant capture," NASA astronaut Kate Rubins told space station commander Kevin Ford from Mission Control.

Ford passed along his thanks to NASA's controllers in Houston as well as to SpaceX's mission control at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. "It's not where you start, but where you finish that counts, and you guys really finished this one on the mark,"Ford said. "You're aboard, and we've got lots of science on there to bring aboard and get done. So congratulations to all of you."

As the crew watched, the robotic arm's remote operators in Houston issued commands to pull the Dragon in for a hookup with the station's Harmony module. "The Dragon is ours!" Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield wrote in a Twitter update. "Maneuvering it now on Canadarm2 to docking port, will open hatches. Look forward to new smells."

The capsule was berthed at 8:56 a.m. ET, and within a few hours, the station's astronauts hooked up the electrical connections, opened up the hatch from the Harmony module and took their first look inside the Dragon.

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Space station grabs Dragon cargo craft

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) A private Earth-to-orbit delivery service made good on its latest shipment to the International Space Station on Sunday, overcoming mechanical difficulty and delivering a ton of supplies with high-flying finesse.

To NASA's relief, the SpaceX company's Dragon capsule pulled up to the orbiting lab with all of its systems in perfect order. Station astronauts used a hefty robot arm to snare the unmanned Dragon, and three hours later, it was bolted into place.

The Dragon's arrival couldn't have been sweeter and not because of the fresh fruit on board for the six-man station crew. Coming a full day late, the 250-mile-high linkup above Ukraine culminated a two-day chase that got off to a shaky, almost dead-ending start.

Moments after the Dragon reached orbit Friday, a clogged pressure line or stuck valve prevented the timely release of the solar panels and the crucial firing of small maneuvering rockets. SpaceX flight controllers struggled for several hours before gaining control of the capsule and salvaging the mission.

"As they say, it's not where you start, but where you finish that counts," space station commander Kevin Ford said after capturing the Dragon, "and you guys really finished this one on the mark."

He added: "We've got lots of science on there to bring aboard and get done. So congratulations to all of you."

Among the items on board: 640 seeds of a flowering weed used for research, mouse stem cells, food and clothes for the six men on board the space station, trash bags, computer equipment, air purifiers, spacewalking tools and batteries. The company also tucked away apples and other fresh treats from an employee's family orchard.

The Dragon will remain at the space station for most of March before returning to Earth with science samples, empty food containers and old equipment.

The California-based SpaceX run by billionaire Elon Musk has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to keep the station well stocked. The contract calls for 12 supply runs; this was the second in that series.

This is the third time, however, that a Dragon has visited the space station. The previous capsules had no trouble reaching their destination. Company officials promise a thorough investigation into what went wrong this time; if the maneuvering thrusters had not been activated, the capsule would have been lost.

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Tamed Dragon supply ship arrives at space station