The Houston Chronicle reports that NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano “on Friday will exit the confines of the International Space Station for the first of four spacewalks to fix a vital piece of hardware that was not designed to be repaired in space.” The astronauts will repair part of a failed cooling system on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). On Tuesday, NASA officials indicated that “the technical challenges of the mission…rival those of any previous spacewalk, including the Hubble Space Telescope between 1993 and 2009.” NASA program manager Ken Bollweg said, “When they get into this area behind the debris shield, they’re very constrained, they’ll get in there with their hands but then their head, their shoulders, the rest of the suit, the work station, everything is interfering with what they’re doing within that tiny space.”
Full Story (Houston Chronicle)
Tag: ISS
NASA Astronaut, Two Russian Cosmonauts Return to Earth from ISS
The AP reported that on Saturday at 12:55 a.m., NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov returned to Earth from their mission aboard the International Space Station. Spaceflight Now reported that the crew landed in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, ending their 185-day mission.
Full Story (Associated Press); More Info (Spaceflight Now)
Russian Progress Cargo Ship Docks With ISS
SPACE reports that the Russian Progress MS-16 cargo ship docked safely at the International Space Station Wednesday, bringing “new research experiments, crew supplies (such as clothing and food), fresh water, nitrogen gas and propellant for the station’s Zvezda service module propulsion system,” among other cargo. When it leaves the station, Progress “will remain connected to Pirs and pull the entire docking compartment away from the ISS for a planned destruction in Earth’s atmosphere.” The move will come “just days after the launch of the ‘Nauka’ multipurpose laboratory module,” which will dock at the port vacated by Pirs.
Full Story (SPACE)
SpaceX Pushes Launch of NRO Satellite Atop Falcon 9 Rocket to Saturday
Spaceflight Now reports that on Thursday, SpaceX scrubbed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket “to evaluate a ‘slightly high’ pressure reading in the rocket’s upper stage liquid oxygen tank.” A “sensor reading on the Falcon 9’s upper stage triggered an ‘auto-abort’ at T-minus 1 minute, 53 seconds, as SpaceX counted down to a planned liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center at 9:45 a.m. EST (1445 GMT) Thursday.” The mission to deliver a National Reconnaissance Office payload to orbit is now scheduled to launch Saturday morning.
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Falcon 9, Cargo Dragon Arrive On Pad 39A for Saturday Launch
Spaceflight Now reports that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was moved to pad 39A Wednesday “for the first launch of an upgraded version of the company’s Dragon cargo capsule for the International Space Station.” SpaceX will test-fire the main engines Thursday to prepare for the launch scheduled for Saturday at 11:39 EST. The Dragon cargo capsule “is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station’s Harmony module zenith port at 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 GMT) Sunday, delivering 6,553 pounds (2,972 kilograms) of supplies, experiments, and a new commercial airlock module to the orbiting research complex.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
NASA Narrows Down ISS Leak to Zvezda Service Module
The AP reports that “a small air leak at the International Space Station finally has been traced to the Russian side, following a middle-of-the-night search by astronauts.” NASA “said Tuesday that the two Russians and one American on board were awakened late Monday to hurriedly seal hatches between compartments and search for the ongoing leak, which appeared to be getting worse. It was the third time in just over a month that the crew had to isolate themselves on the Russian side, in an attempt to find the growing leak.” NASA “officials stress that the leak remains small and poses no danger. The astronauts will now use leak detectors to try to pinpoint the leak in Russia’s main living and working compartment, called Zvezda.”
Full Story (Associated Press)
NASA Changes ISS’ Position to Avoid Collision with Debris
Bloomberg reports that NASA shifted the position of the ISS in order to avoid a “potentially catastrophic encounter with debris that would have passed within less than a mile of the orbital laboratory – a close shave in space terms.” NASA said in a statement that the debris was expected to pass by the ISS at approximately 6:21 p.m. EDT Tuesday. NASA “didn’t reveal the size of the debris, which would have passed within 1.39 km (0.86 mile), forcing the 150-second ‘avoidance maneuver’ burn by Mission Control in Houston.”
Full Story (Bloomberg)