Tag: ISS
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Dragon Roadmap: From domestic crew independence to humans on Mars
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is continuing to make solid progress during the early years of its incremental roadmap, a path that has a firm focus on sending humans to Mars. With successful Commercial Cargo missions already under its belt, Dragon is already targeting the role of transporting NASA crews to the International Space Station (ISS). Rise…
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Russian duo complete ambitious ISS spacewalk
Highly experienced Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and debut spacewalker Alexander Misurkin conducted an EVA lasting over six hours on the outside of the International Space Station on Monday. The duo conducted a large array of tasks, including the replacement of a fluid flow regulator on the Russian segment’s Zarya module. Russian EVA 33 – Refer…
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NASA told to slow down CRS payment schedule for Orbital’s cargo runs
NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a report that recommends the Agency should slow down its payments to Orbital for their Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) missions. Despite Orbital’s successful test flight of their Antares launch vehicle, the OIG is concerned by the “financial risk” of paying the company too far ahead of schedule.…
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Europe’s ATV heavy hauler launches on penultimate trip to ISS
The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4) spacecraft launched toward the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday at 9:52:11 PM GMT, atop an Ariane V booster from the Kourou Space Center in French Guyana. ATV-4 is the heaviest spacecraft ever launched by Europe, and marks the largest ever load of internal ISS cargo…
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From Space Station to Moon Base – Bigelow expands on inflatable ambitions
Two months after signing a non-funded Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA, Bigelow Aerospace has made great progress toward identifying new ideas for private-public partnerships for human space exploration of the solar system, with discussions complementing NASA’s near- and long-term exploration goals with the private sector’s burgeoning development of exploration facilities for Earth orbit and…
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Soyuz TMA-09M docks to ISS following short cut rendezvous
A three member crew set sail for a speedy trip to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, following launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Riding in their Russian Soyuz TMA-09M, Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Karen Nyberg of NASA and ESA’s Luca Parmitano successfully docked with the Station just six hours later – several minutes ahead…
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UK’s Major Peake delighted by historic ISS assignment
British astronaut Major Timothy Peake is to become the first British government-sponsored astronaut to fly on the International Space Station (ISS), following his assignment to a long-duration mission from late 2015 to mid-2016. Major Peake’s flight to the ISS, which will be made via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, comes amid a period of increased UK…
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McAlister Discusses Commercial Crew Certification
In a recent presentation to the human exploration and operations committee of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC), Phil McAlister, Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Development discussed the next steps that will be necessary for commercial crew providers to be certified to begin transportation of commercial crew to the International Space Station in 2017. Optional Milestones…
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No return of the leak – ISS teams clear concern as false signature
The International Station Station (ISS) team have confirmed they still have an air tight cooling system on the P6 Truss Photo Voltaic Thermal Control System (PVTCS), following the observation of leak indications during the recent Soyuz TMA-07M undocking. The indications were blamed on a lack of data on the entire system, as the ISS maneuvered…
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Soyuz TMA-07M returns ISS crew to Earth
The Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft has returned to Earth after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday. The Russian vehicle was carrying a three person crew that includes Expedition 35’s now globally famous Commander, Chris Hadfield. The crew successfully landed on the steppe of Kazakhstan, southeast of Dzhezkazgan at 8:31am local time. Soyuz TMA-07M:…