Aviation Week reports that demand for conducting experiments “on board the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory remains strong after 75 payloads were sent to the orbiting platform last year.” The laboratory, “which hosts non-NASA experiments, is looking for its next crop of in-space projects.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: ISS
Airbus Partners With Nanoracks for Commercial Space Station
Aviation Week reports that Europe’s Airbus Defense and Space “is joining a U.S. partnership led by Voyager Space-owned Nanoracks to develop and operate a commercial space station in low Earth orbit (LEO), one of four NASA-backed projects vying to host government research and commercial ventures after the International Space Station” is transitioned away from.
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Astronauts Install Hardware on Outside of ISS
CNN reports, “First-time spacewalkers and NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio began their excursion outside the space station at 9:14 a.m. ET and ended at 4:25 p.m. ET, lasting for 7 hours and 11 minutes.” The purpose of the excursion was to assemble a mounting bracket on the space station’s starboard side, which will allow for more rollout solar arrays (iROSAs), which will increase the power to the space station. “The first two rollout solar arrays were installed outside the station in June 2021. Six iROSAs total have been planned and will likely boost the space station’s power generation by more than 30% once all are operational.”
Full Story (CNN)
NASA Looks Ahead to ISS Transition
Aviation Week reports that NASA is going ahead with plans to transition the International Space Station to commercial platforms while the agency hopes to retain its US and international laboratory partners.
Full Story (Aviation Week)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)