The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reported that Congress has passed the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, authorizing NASA to keep the ISS operational until 2030. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, “This act shows continued bipartisan support of NASA’s many missions, including our Moon to Mars approach, as well extension of U.S. participation in the International Space Station to 2030.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)
Tag: ISS
NASA, Roscosmos to Conduct Integrated Crewed Flights to ISS
ExecutiveGov reports that NASA and Roscosmos “have agreed to perform integrated crewed flights to the International Space Station.” The first integrated crewed flight to the ISS “will occur in September and NASA said U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio will join two cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, who will launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.” Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, “along with two U.S. astronauts and a Japanese astronaut, will launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.”
Full Story (ExecutiveGov)
SpaceX Launches CRS-25 Resupply Mission to ISS
The Orlando Sentinel reports that SpaceX “sent up its Dragon spacecraft on the CRS-25 resupply run to the International Space Station on Thursday night.” The launch was delayed from last week “after teams detected hydrazine vapor in the spacecraft, and ultimately decided to replace the vehicle’s parachutes.” The Dragon supply capsule is loaded with “experiments tackling wound healing, immune response and a potential way to build structures off planet, among other things.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)
Video
SpaceX launch of CRS-25 Mission, July 14, 2022.
(SpaceX via YouTube)
Cygnus Boosts ISS Orbit, Departs for Earth after Booster Test
SPACE reports that the Northrop Grumman NG-17 Cygnus “spacecraft successfully reboosted the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time, raising the orbiting lab to its normal operating altitude of around 250 miles above Earth.” The reboost “took place on Saturday (June 25) and marks the first time a Cygnus spacecraft has performed a full reboost procedure.” Cygnus “fired its gimbaled engine in order to raise the space station’s altitude by a tenth of a mile (0.16 kilometers) at apogee and a half a mile (0.8 km) at perigee.”
Full Story (SPACE)
NASA Purchases Five More Dragon Missions from SpaceX
Spaceflight Now reported that NASA “says it plans to buy five more crew rotation missions on SpaceX’s fleet of Dragon spaceships, bringing SpaceX’s contract with the space agency to 14 operational astronaut launches, likely enough to keep the International Space Station staffed through 2030.” SpaceX and The Boeing Company are to alternate NASA astronaut missions “every six months once the agency certifies Boeing’s Starliner capsule for the job.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Russia Launches Cargo Mission to ISS
SPACE reports that Russia launched the Progress 81 freighter “atop a Russian-built Soyuz rocket at 5:32 a.m. EDT (0932 GMT) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where the local time was 2:32 p.m. in the afternoon.” Progress 81 “is carrying about three tons of food, propellant and equipment up to the International Space Station (ISS)” where it will dock at 9:02 a.m. EDT. NASA spokesperson Sandra Jones said, “It was a perfect launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.”
Full Story (SPACE)
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Progress 81 Cargo Ship Launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome – June 3, 2022 (NASA via YouTube)
Starliner’s Docking at ISS Was Slightly Delayed
CNN reports that The Boeing Company’s Starliner spacecraft docked with the ISS “Friday night at 8:28 p.m. ET.” Starliner’s docking “occurred about an hour later than expected as ground crews worked through a few issues, including a software issue that skewed graphics, sort of like a misaligned GPS map.” The Starliner’s pop-out docking ring malfunctioned on its first docking attempt.
Full Story (CNN)
Russia to Cease ISS Cooperation Over Sanctions
Business Insider reports that the “head of Russia’s space agency on Saturday said that the country would leave the International Space Station, which Moscow said is the result of economic sanctions imposed as a result of the country’s conflict in Ukraine.” In an interview with two Russian state news agencies — Tass and RIA Novosti — Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin reportedly said that “the decision has been taken already, we’re not obliged to talk about it publicly.” According to the article, NASA plans to continue running the space station through 2030.
Full Story (Business Insider)
Crew-4 Astronauts Reach International Space Station
Aviation Week reports that the Crew-4 Dragon spacecraft “docked to the International Space Station (ISS) late April 27, delivering four U.S. and European astronauts to the orbiting laboratory.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Ax-1 Mission Crew Returns to Earth
Space.com reports that the Ax-1 mission’s four crewmembers returned to Earth Monday, successfully concluding “the first-ever all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.” The SpaceX crew capsule “carrying the four crewmembers … splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida” Monday at 1:06 p.m. EDT, “bringing the groundbreaking 17-day flight to a close.”
Full Story (Space.com)