Tag: Human Spaceflight
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NASA studying whether to add astronauts to first launch of new super booster
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft near the moon. Credit: NASA NASA managers said Friday they hope to know within a month or so whether it might be feasible — or advisable — to put two astronauts on board the first test flight of a huge 322-foot-tall Space…
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SpaceX supply ship completes journey to space station
ESA astronaut Homas Pesquet tweeted this image of the Dragon spacecraft hovering just below the space station Thursday. Credit: Thomas Pesquet/ESA/NASA Running a day late after aborting a rendezvous to resolve a navigation glitch, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft made a smooth final approach to the International Space Station on Thursday, floating in range of the…
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Astronauts will ride on Starliner capsules in ‘Boeing Blue’ spacesuits
Boeing has unveiled a new lightweight spacesuit, fitted with zippers, breathable stitching and plenty of Velcro, to protect NASA astronauts on trips to the International Space Station aboard the company’s CST-100 Starliner capsule. The “Boeing Blue” garment will shield astronauts as they ride inside the CST-100 spacecraft during launch and landing. The environment inside the…
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Japanese cargo craft departs space station
The HTV 6 supply ship leaves the International Space Station on Friday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now Japan’s sixth HTV supply ship departed the International Space Station on Friday and headed for a destructive re-entry over the South Pacific with trash and disused batteries from the research lab, but engineers will first use the spacecraft for…
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Launch failure probe prompts engine swap on Soyuz crew’s rocket
File photo of a Soyuz rocket’s RD-0110 engine. Credit: Energia Russian engineers will replace rocket engines on two Soyuz rockets assigned to send a batch of supplies and the next crew to the International Space Station after an investigation revealed foreign objects or a manufacturing defect led to the crash of a Progress cargo craft…
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Spacewalkers continue station battery refresh with EVA
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Credit: @Thom_astro Two spacewalking astronauts working outside the International Space Station Friday completed work to replace aging batteries in one of the lab’s eight main solar power circuits. A second spacewalk next week, along with additional work with the station’s robot arm, will upgrade a second power channel.…
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Shuttle engine delivered to Orion service module assembly site
Orion’s service module engine undergoes vibration testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA A former space shuttle orbital maneuvering system engine has been delivered to Germany for attachment to the European-built service module destined to steer NASA’s next Orion spacecraft on a course around the moon on an uncrewed test flight in…
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Piers Sellers, shuttle astronaut and renowned climate researcher, dies at 61
Piers Sellers flew on three assembly missions to the International Space Station. He is seen here on the STS-132 mission in May 2010. Credit: NASA Former astronaut Piers Sellers, a British-born climate scientist who flew on three space shuttle missions to help construct the International Space Station, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age…
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SpaceX’s first crew launch moved back to 2018
Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Credit: SpaceX Astronauts will not fly to the International Space Station on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship until at least May 2018, NASA said this week, missing a previous target launch date at the end of next year. The delay was expected after Boeing, which is also developing a…
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Soyuz docking boosts station crew size back to six
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Two days after launch from Kazakhstan, a Russian Soyuz ferry ship glided to a smooth docking with the International Space Station Saturday, bringing a veteran cosmonaut, a Frenchman making his first flight and NASA’s most experienced female astronaut to the lab complex. With commander Oleg Novitskiy at the…