Tag: ISS

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)

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)

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)

Crew-4 Astronauts Ready for ISS Departure

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports, “After nearly half a year in space, the four astronauts of Crew-4 are set to climb back into the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom for its return trip to Florida.” NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins, along with the ESA’s Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in April and have spent nearly 170 days onboard the station. Upon its departure, Crew Dragon Freedom will be making its first return to Earth.
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

NASA, SpaceX Successfully Launch Crew-5 Mission to the ISS

Space.com reports that NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission successfully launched to the International Space Station Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Pad 39A.  Liftoff occurred at 12:00 p.m. EDT, “kicking off a roughly 29-hour journey to the orbiting lab.” The spacecraft is scheduled to dock at the ISS on Thursday at 4:57 p.m. ET.  The mission’s “four spaceflyers are NASA’s Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina.” The launch “made Mann the first Native American woman to reach the final frontier and Kikina the first Russian to fly on a private American spacecraft.”
Full Story (Space.com)

 

 Video

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 Mission to the International Space Station (Official NASA Broadcast)
(NASA; YouTube)

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)

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)

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)

Dream Chaser Spaceplane to be Used for ISS Cargo Mission in 2024

SPACE reports that Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane “will be used for an International Space Station (ISS) cargo mission in 2024 to ferry ‘a variety of life sciences experiments’ for Yuri, a German space biotech company.” Sierra Space “will send at least six uncrewed ISS cargo missions using Dream Chaser, all lifting off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station using United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rockets.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Commercial Space Data Relays May be Used by NASA within a Decade

Via Satellite reports that NASA “could be using commercial services to enable its next-generation satellite communications constellation that will provide connectivity to the International Space Station (ISS), as well as various science missions,” within the next decade. NASA is “one of several government organizations that are investing in space data relay networks, and the Defense Department in particular is funding new efforts to launch proliferated LEO constellations for on-demand connectivity.” European and Canadian companies “are partnering with the European Space Agency (ESA) to take the next steps in optical communication via the High Throughput Optical Network project, also known as HyDRON.”
Full Story (Via Satellite)

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.

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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)

NASA Posts RFI for ISS Deorbit Spacecraft

GovCon Wire reports that NASA “expects the International Space Station to conclude operations in late 2030 and is seeking information from potential industry sources of spacecraft that will work to deorbit the government-funded laboratory.” A request for information “posted Friday on SAM.gov says the deorbit vehicle should attach to the Node 2 Forward port one year before the controlled reentry of ISS into an unpopulated region.”
Full Story (GovCon Wire)

ISS Adjusts Course to Avoid Russian Space Debris

CNN reports that NASA said the ISS fired its thrusters for five minutes and five seconds to avoid a Russian satellite destroyed by a missile strike in a weapons test last year. “Officials at NASA have previously warned about the risks of the proliferation of debris in space, caused by a dramatic increase in the number of satellites in orbit and several instances of governments intentionally destroying satellites and creating new plumes of junk.”
Full Story (CNN)

NASA Says Spacewalks will Resume

Aviation Week reports, “NASA is looking to mid-November for the resumption of planned spacewalks outside the International Space Station (ISS) following the unexpected appearance of moisture on the helmet visor of European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer at the conclusion of a March 23 excursion.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Blackhawk Aerospace Sees Retrofits as the Future with PC-12 Expected to be Certified Soon

Aviation Week reports, “Aftermarket engine upgrade specialist Blackhawk Aerospace is developing a retrofit for the Daher TBM 700 turboprop single as it begins flight tests of its latest improvement project – a Pilatus PC-12 configured with the Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) PT6A-67P.” The modification specialist company said the PC-12 is expected to receive certification from the FAA in the second quarter of 2023, followed by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) shortly thereafter.
Full Story (Aviation Week)