Tag: ISS

AIAA Statement on Successful Launch of Innovative Commercial Research on CRS-24 Mission

December 21, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement:

“On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we congratulate NASA and the SpaceX team on today’s successful launch of the International Space Station (ISS) commercial resupply services mission, CRS-24. We recognize the countless aerospace industry professionals who were involved in making this mission a success and helping shape the future of aerospace.

This 24th commercial resupply services mission carries numerous exciting science experiments exploring human health and technology development in the orbiting laboratory. We applaud the efforts to expand access to on-orbit research for entrepreneurs and companies from non-traditional industries. These innovators are working to improve life on Earth and accelerate our off-world future. We look forward to following their progress.”

Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About ASCEND
Powered by AIAA, ASCEND promotes the collaborative, interdisciplinary, outcomes-driven community of professionals, students, and enthusiasts around the world who are accelerating humanity’s progress toward our off-world future! For more information, visit ascend.events, or follow ASCEND on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Russia Admits to Testing Anti-Satellite Rocket, Denies Endangering ISS

The Washington Post reports that the International Space Station “faced a menacing threat” Monday from “thousands of pieces of debris, scattered when Russia fired a missile that destroyed a dead satellite.” Mission control in Houston “had to wake the astronauts to inform them that they needed to evacuate the Space Station and take shelter inside their spacecraft.” The Post adds that “the debris missed, and the seven space travelers – four Americans, two Russians and a German – reentered the station, ready to resume their work on the orbiting laboratory.”
Full Story (The Washington Post)
More Info (AIAA Statement)

ISS Dodges Chinese Space Debris

The New York Times reports that the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday “was forced to maneuver itself to avoid a piece of debris spawned by a Chinese antisatellite weapon test in 2007.” NASA and Roscosmos worked together to fire the ISS’ thrusters, raising its altitude by nearly a mile.
Full Story (New York Times)

NASA Warned to Avoid Space Station Gap

Space News reports that industry officials warned NASA that it “needs to ensure that commercial space stations are ready before the International Space Station is retired to avoid a ‘space station gap’ with geopolitical consequences.” NASA currently plans to retire the ISS around 2030 and calls for a new commercial space station by the end of this decade.
Full Story (Space News)

Cygnus Reaches ISS

Aviation Week reports that Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo capsule “rendezvoused with the International Space Station early Aug. 12, where it was grappled using Canada’s 58-ft.-long robot arm and berthed to the seven-person orbital lab’s U.S. segment Unity module.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Russian Module Misfire on ISS More Serious Than First Stated

SPACE reports that NASA’s Flight Director at mission control in Houston during the Nauka docking, Zebulon Scoville, said that the ISS tilted more severely than the reported 45 degrees. Scoville said that Nauka caused the station to spin “one-and-a-half revolutions – about 540 degrees – before coming to a stop upside down. The space station then did a 180-degree forward flip to get back to its original orientation.” NASA representatives confirmed Monday that Scoville’s account is accurate.
Full Story (SPACE)

Cygnus Resupply Mission to Launch to ISS August 10

ExecutiveGov reported that Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to lift off atop an Antares rocket August 10 for a mission to the International Space Station. The spacecraft will “deliver another batch of NASA’s science investigations, supplies and equipment to” the ISS. The mission “will support research on 3D printing in space, the behavior of slime molds in microgravity, a spacecraft thermal protection system and a carbon dioxide removal technology.”
Full Story (ExecutiveGov)

SpaceX Cargo Dragon Undocks from ISS

SPACE reports that at 10:40 a.m. EDT Thursday, SpaceX’s CRS-22 Cargo Dragon spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station’s Harmony module. NASA officials said that the spacecraft is expected to land off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday at 11:30 p.m. EDT. Experiments from the cargo spacecraft “will be sent back to NASA’s Space Station Processing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to minimize the effects of gravity on the samples,” according to a NASA press release. The ship, “carrying 5,000 lbs. (roughly 2,265 kilograms) of equipment, experiments and other things, was supposed to depart the station on Tuesday (July 6) and then Wednesday (July 7), but continued high winds and dangerous conditions from” Tropical Storm Elsa caused the undocking to be delayed.
Full Story (SPACE)

Roscosmos Chief Says Russia Will Withdraw from ISS in 2025 if Sanctions Aren’t Lifted

Reuters reports that on Monday, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin “suggested Moscow would withdraw from the International Space Station in 2025 unless Washington lifted sanctions on the space sector that were hampering Russian satellite launches.” The sanctions prevent Russia from importing “certain microchip sets needed for its space” program. Rogozin said, “We have spacecraft that are nearly assembled but they lack one specific microchip set that we have no way of purchasing because of the sanctions. … This is in the hands of our American partners.”
Full Story (Reuters)