Category Archives: Space Station

STS-135 Atlantis - Doking to the Space Station.
Website: irememberspace.us A cool view of the space of Atlantis docking to the space station for the final time.From:Bryan KViews:0 0ratingsTime:05:58More inScience Technology

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TriFecta - "Space Station #5"
TriFecta performs the Montrose song "Space Station #5" at Roxy Perry #39;s "Concerts With Causes" Benefit show held at Fiddler #39;s Green in Stamford, CT on June 10, 2012.From:Tri FectaViews:1 0ratingsTime:05:28More inMusic

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Fond Farewell for Suni, Aki and Yuri
The new commander of the International Space Station, NASA #39;s Kevin Ford, is joined by his Expedition 34 crewmembers, Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin in bidding farewell to and closing the station hatch behind Suni Williams, Aki Hoshide and Yuri Malenchenko as they prepare to return home to Earth aboard their Soyuz spacecraft.From:NASAtelevisionViews:200 33ratingsTime:04:48More inScience Technology

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[ISS] Hatch Closure as Expedition 33 Begin Return Home
The hatches between Soyuz TMA-05M and the International Space Station were closed today as the three membered crew begin their return home. They will touch down in Kazakhstan later tonight.From:SpaceVidsNetViews:26 3ratingsTime:03:52More inScience Technology

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[ISS] Hatch Closure as Expedition 33 Begin Return Home - Video

The idea for a manned space station left pulp science fiction for scientific authenticity when Harry Ross, on Nov. 13, 1948, described such a facility in a paper to the British Interplanetary Society.

According to historical documents provided by Mark Stewart, BIS honorary archival librarian/editor, the "station was based on a concept" that Herman Potocnik described in his 1928 book "The Problem of Space Travel: The Rocket Motor." Potocnik was an Austrian Imperial Army officer who became an engineer. Hermann Oberth, who published "The Rocket Into Planetary Space" in 1923, urged Potocnik (writing under the pseudonym H. Noordung), to base his ideas of the future not on fanciful science fiction but on solid engineering principles.

The design that Ross and Ralph Smith, both members of the BIS Technical Committee, created "had a mirror to collect solar energy and was to spin on its axis to provide artificial gravity," said Space Travel: A History (Harper & Row/1985).

The BIS documents stated that for power, "water or mercury would be heated in a ring-main of pipes at the circular focus of the mirror," which would drive "eight turbo-generators housed in blisters spaced around the circumference of the living quarters." Personal residences would house "a permanent staff of 24" working on site.

On the same date, Ross also described a mission to land the first man on the Moon. Smith, "who played a leading part in early B.I.S. design studies," said the publication "The British Interplanetary Society: Aims and Objects/Regulations for Membership," produced the drawings. One was of an air purification plant. Two years earlier, Smith and Ross had conceived of a "man-carrying rocket designed to test human reactions to a short period of spaceflight." They "submitted" it to the U.K. Ministry of Supply on Dec. 23, 1946.

In 1949, Ross designed a Lunar Spacesuit "based on a work started in 1940," the BIS historical documents said. "He had examined the problem of a lunar suit for 12-(hour) use with a temperature compensating range from 120 degrees Celsius during the day down to minus 150 degrees Celsius at night." The exterior "was to be a highly burnished metallic film to reflect as much heat as possible." The helmet would be a " thermos-flask" design to give good heat insulation," with "a large-angle vision port."

At the October 1951 First Annual Symposium on Space Travel, in New York, Dr. Wernher von Braun broached an orbiting station. From the gathering grew "an eight-part series on space travel" for Collier's Magazine, said "Dark Side of the Moon: The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest" (New York University Press/2006). The website haydenplanetarium.org said the 1952-54 articles "birthed an indelible vis7ion for the public's imagination and fascination with space."

Von Braun "weaved a fantastic tale about a massive Earth-orbiting space station that would serve as a docking port for cosmic taxis," said "Dark Side of the Moon." "According to the dream its constant rotation would generate artificial gravity, making it livable for an extended period. The station would serve as a foundation for lunar expeditions, and eventually for trips to Mars."

Chesley Bonestell, whom The Washington Post in 1985 called "the acknowledged "dean of space art," produced the paintings, which included Earth-orbiting stations. The same ideas were placed before the public in Walt Disney's three-part, mid-1950s Man in Space series.

In 1955, film producer George Pal released "The Conquest of Space," in which astronauts "attempt a flight to Mars," Ley said in the May 1955 Astounding Science Fiction. "The United States Air Forces takes on the job of building first 'The Wheel,' the space-station orbiting Earth 1,080 miles out, and then the ship capable of the Mars trip" that launches from the station.

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BIS proposes an early space station

November 17, 2012

Image Credit: NASA

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

A scheduled debris avoidance maneuver was cancelled after tracking data showed that an unknown piece of space debris would pass by the International Space Station (ISS) at a safe distance, NASA officials have announced.

The decision to forgo the maneuver, which would have steered the ISS clear of the space junks path, was made by American and Russian flight controllers after they received updated tracking data revealing that the debris would miss the station by 1.7 miles placing it in the green regime, a safe distance away from the complex, and much further from the station than previous tracking passes displayed, the US space agency said in a statement.

Furthermore, Flight Director Holly Ridings determined that the ISS crew members would not have to retreat to their respective Soyuz modules for protection from the potential threat, which made its closest approach to the station at 12:54pm Eastern time on Friday.

NASA reports that none of the crew members were in any danger, and that three of them Expedition 33 Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Aki Hoshide had spent Friday morning preparing to depart the ISS and return home to Earth. Williams, Malenchenko, and Hoshide are scheduled to depart from the space station at 5:26pm Sunday, and land in Kazakhstan at 8:53pm Eastern that evening.

The home-bound Expedition 33 trio climbed into their Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft for more checks Friday, NASA explained. They tested the vehicles motion control system and conducted final descent training. At the end of their mission they will have spent 127 days in space and 125 days aboard the station.

Williams and Flight Engineer Kevin Ford will participate in a change of command ceremony Saturday at 2:15pm Eastern, and Ford will assume the role of Expedition 34 commander. He and Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin will remain on board the facility.

This is Williams second mission on the ISS. She was a member of the Expedition 14 crew from December 2006 through June 2007. Malenchenko has been to the station on four occasions, including stints as a member of the team that prepped the station for its first permanent crew in September 2000 and as the commander of Expedition 7 in 2003. This marked Hoshides first residency onboard the ISS. His only previous spaceflight experience came in June 2008, as a member of the crew of the space shuttle discovery, according to NASA.

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Space Junk Passes ISS At Safe Distance

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Before the crew of Expedition 32/33 comes home today, astronaut and commander Suni Williams handed over the reins of the International Space Station to Kevin Ford during the traditional change of command ceremony which was not so traditional. Williams handed out gifts to the new crew, and at times seemed quite emotional. Last week Williams wrote in her blog that she really didnt want to think about leaving the ISS. Up to this point I havent, and sort of denied it, she wrote. And, I am still in denial, but I am going thru the motions because I dont want to forget something when the hatch closes. Williams, Aki Hoshide of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko will return home after what seems like a short 125 days in space, arriving at the ISS on July 17.

They will leave the station today (Sunday, Nov 18), undocking at 22:26 UTC (5:26 p.m. EST) Sunday and land in Kazakhstan at 01:53 UTC on Monday (8:53 p.m EST Sunday). You can watch live coverage on NASA TV. Remaining onboard the ISS to begin Expedition 34 are Ford, Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin. They will be joined by Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and NASAs Tom Marshburn on Dec. 21 to bring the ISS crew compliment back to six. As Ford notes in the video, the new crew are newbies with a combined in-space experience of about 3 months, while Williams and her crew have a combined time in space of about 3 years.

JAXA astronaut Aki Hoshide during an EVA on Nov. 1, 2012, where he and Suni Williams worked to troubleshoot problems with an ammonia leak outside the ISS. Credit: NASA

The time Williams, Hoshide and Malenchenko were on board saw the October arrival the first official commercial spacecraft, SpaceXs Dragon. Williams and Hoshide also carried out two spacewalks, with Williams now holding the record for total spacewalk time by a female at 50 hours and 40 minutes over seven career spacewalks. Malenchenko is a space veteran with several Soyuz flights, a flight on the Space Shuttle and three stints on the ISS.

Heres the scene as Williams, Hoshide and Malenchenko say goodbye and close the hatches between the ISS and Soyuz:

Tagged as: ISS, Space Flight, Space Station

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Change of Command on the Space Station

Expedition 33 Flight Engineer Kevin Ford gets his hair cut at the Cosmonaut Hotel on October 21, 2012, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for October 23 and will send Expedition 33/34 Flight Engineer Kevin Ford of NASA, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin of ROSCOSMOS on a five-month mission aboard the International Space Station. UPI//Bill Ingalls/NASA

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Published: Nov. 17, 2012 at 7:29 PM

HOUSTON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Suni Williams handed over command of the International Space Station Saturday to fellow U.S. astronaut Kevin Ford.

Williams, Aki Hoshide of Japan and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko were scheduled to leave Sunday in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. They were expected to land Monday, local time, in Kazakhstan after 127 days in space, Florida Today reported.

On Friday, ground crew for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration determined that an orbiting piece of space junk would miss the space station. Plans for a "debris avoidance maneuver" by having a Russian supply ship fire its engines were abandoned.

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Space station command changes

Day 15: #vlomo12 [15] International Space Station (ISS) fly over the Southern Tier NY
Day Fifteen (15) for #vlomo 2012. ISS SIGHTINGS FOR Thu Nov 15/05:55 AM, DURATION 6 (MIN), MAX ELEV 48 (DEG), APPROACH 15 above WSW (DEG-DIR), DEPARTURE 11 above NE (DEG-DIR) On Audioboo: audioboo.fm On VoiceBo: voicebo.comFrom:RichTVTiogaViews:3 0ratingsTime:02:54More inPeople Blogs

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Day 15: #vlomo12 [15] International Space Station (ISS) fly over the Southern Tier NY - Video

GI Joe Cobra Cartoon Collection IX
GI Joe Cobra Cartoon Collection IX The Pyramid of Darkness Season 1: Episodes 1.01-1.05 After Cobra takes control of the Joes #39; space station and uses its weapons system to attack Joe headquarters, they use the space station to power four large cubes that prevent the use of electrical devices on Earth. Part I: The Further Adventures of GIJoe Part II: Rendezvous in the City of the Dead Part III: Three Cubes to Darkness Part IV: Chaos in the Sea of Lost Souls Part V: Knotting Cobra #39;s CoilsFrom:PunchorKissFilmsViews:4 0ratingsTime:27:08More inFilm Animation

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GI Joe