Tag: space station
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Testing antibacterial surfaces on the International Space Station
On June 5, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off to the International Space Station with new supplies, including equipment for scientific research. Among the new scientific gear that has arrived at the ISS are four tablets covered with extremely thin films that could play a crucial role in the development of materials for future…
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Skylab at 50 – How the United States entered the space station era
On May 14, 1973, the final Saturn V rocket lifted off to deploy Skylab, America’s first space station. Despite a troubled start to its life, Skylab pioneered long-duration spaceflight, and fifty years later lessons learned in this program are still contributing to the success of the International Space Station. With Apollo 11’s successful landing on…
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US spacewalk to install fourth iROSA completed after debris avoidance maneuver
Two NASA astronauts conducted a spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, Dec. 22, to install a fourth new iROSA (ISS Roll-Out Solar Array). The Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) follows a previous one on Dec. 2 that installed the third iROSA. The second EVA of the pair was scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 21, but…
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Tianzhou 4 cargo launch to begin busy space station year for China
China has launched the Tianzhou 4 cargo resupply mission on Monday, May 9 at 17:56 UTC (13:56 EDT) to the Tiangong space station. The Tianzhou spacecraft flew on a Chang Zheng 7 (Long March 7) rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan, China, to an approximate 389.5 x 395 km orbit with an…
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Tianzhou 4 cargo launch to begin busy space station year for China
China has launched the Tianzhou 4 cargo resupply mission on Monday, May 9 at 17:56 UTC (13:56 EDT) to the Tiangong space station. The Tianzhou spacecraft flew on a Chang Zheng 7 (Long March 7) rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan, China, to an approximate 389.5 x 395 km orbit with an…
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China launches Tianhe module, start of ambitious two-year station construction effort
China launched a Chang Zheng 5B rocket with the Tianhe station core module to low Earth orbit, marking the start of an ambitious two year construction effort of the nation’s new multi-module space station. Liftoff of the historic mission occurred at 23:23 EDT on Wednesday, 28 April — which was 03:23 UTC on Thursday, 29…
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Astronauts complete second spacewalk to upgrade Space Station
NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover have completed their second EVA (extravehicular activity, or spacewalk) outside the ISS in less than one week to continue upgrading the orbital outpost and accomplish miscellaneous tasks during US EVA-70. The duo performed a previous spacewalk last week dedicated largely to communications upgrades for the European Space Agency’s…
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NG-14 Cygnus departs ISS, kicks off busy year for Station crew
After a period of over three months in which the spacecraft was berthed to the nadir (Earth-facing) port of the International Space Station’s Unity module, the 14th Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft vacated the vicinity of the orbital outpost on Wednesday after being unberthed and released from the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSMRS), also known…
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Russia conducts first Soyuz 2.1a human launch; MS-16 crew arrives at Station
For the first time since 2002, humans departed for the International Space Station from Kazakhstan on a rocket other than the veteran Soyuz-FG, which was retired last year. Now, the Soyuz 2.1a rocket took up crew launch duties for the Russian element of crew support for the Station. The Soyuz MS-16 three-person crew lifted off…
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First supply ship for Chinese space station lifts off on test flight
The Tianzhou 1 cargo craft launched aboard a Long March 7 rocket Thursday. Credit: Xinhua A Long March 7 rocket lifted off Thursday with Tianzhou 1, an unpiloted refueling freighter heading for China’s Tiangong 2 mini-space station to conduct several months of robotic demonstrations, practicing for the assembly and maintenance of a future permanently-staffed orbital…