{"id":19282,"date":"2016-08-20T01:12:41","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T17:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/space-station-crew-installs-a-new-front-door-for-spacex-and-boeing-spaceships\/"},"modified":"2016-08-20T01:12:41","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T17:12:41","slug":"space-station-crew-installs-a-new-front-door-for-spacex-and-boeing-spaceships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/space-station-crew-installs-a-new-front-door-for-spacex-and-boeing-spaceships\/","title":{"rendered":"Space station crew installs a new front door for SpaceX and Boeing spaceships"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_269023\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-269023\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-269023\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/160819-ida-space-station-630x579.jpg\" alt=\"Docking adapter installed on International Space Station\" width=\"630\" height=\"579\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/160819-ida-space-station-630x579.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/160819-ida-space-station-768x706.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/160819-ida-space-station.jpg 848w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-269023\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA\u2019s Jeff Williams&nbsp;works on the space station\u2019s International Docking Adapter. (Credit: NASA TV)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The International Space Station now has a door that will let crews float in from the commercial space taxis that SpaceX and Boeing are building, thanks to a nearly six-hour spacewalk.<\/p>\n<p>NASA spacewalkers Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins&nbsp;installed&nbsp;the Boeing-built door, known as an International Docking Adapter or IDA, with an assist from the station\u2019s robotic arm. This was the fourth spacewalk for Williams, and the first for Rubins.<\/p>\n<p>The 5-foot-wide IDA was hooked up to&nbsp;one of the ports on the station\u2019s Harmony module \u2013 a port that was originally designed for use by the now-retired space shuttle fleet. Analogous to&nbsp;an electrical-plug adapter, the IDA fits over the port to provide a standard interface for SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon capsule, Boeing\u2019s CST-100 Starlifter, and potentially other spacecraft including Russia\u2019s Soyuz capsule.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"American Astronauts Install New Docking Port for U S  Commercial Crew Vehicles\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_SS3UsMDdik?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The spacewalkers encountered only one slight problem with a pesky cable connector. They also set up two laser reflectors that will help guide visiting crews during future dockings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is amazing that now we\u2019ve opened up a new chapter in the story of the International Space Station, putting the front door on this for future commercial vehicles,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n<p>If the schedule proceeds according to plan, the first commercial space taxis will hook up next year \u2013 at first for uncrewed tests, and then for crew exchanges.<\/p>\n<p>The first of two IDAs was due to be sent&nbsp;to the station last year, but it was destroyed along with the rest of the cargo shipment due to the failure of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during ascent. This docking adapter was delivered by a SpaceX Dragon cargo craft in July.<\/p>\n<p>Another IDA is under construction and should be ready for installation by 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The spacewalkers had planned to perform some extra \u201cget-ahead\u201d tasks during six and a half hours outside the station \u2013&nbsp;but Williams experienced a minor problem with his helmet communication system,&nbsp;forcing an end to today\u2019s spacewalk at the five-hour, 58-minute mark.<\/p>\n<p>The same astronauts are due to take on another outing on Sept. 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA\u2019s Jeff Williams&nbsp;works on the space station\u2019s International Docking Adapter. (Credit: NASA TV) The International Space Station now has a door that will let crews float in from the commercial space taxis that SpaceX and Boeing are building, thanks to a nearly six-hour spacewalk. NASA spacewalkers Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins&nbsp;installed&nbsp;the Boeing-built door, known as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[670,717,316],"class_list":["post-19282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-boeing","tag-international-space-station","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}