SpaceX Dragon Returns to Flight Bound for the International Space Station

The SpaceX Dragon capsule has successfully launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a mission to deliver science to the International Space Station.

The Commercial Resupply Services(CRS)-8 launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 9:43 p.m. Eastern Time under clear skies carrying science research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory in support of the Expedition 47 and 48 crews.

Dragon on its eight flight to the International Space Station launches

atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:43 p.m. from Cape Canveral in Florida.

credit: SpaceX

Just minutes after first stage separation, the rocket's first stage fell back to Earth, fired its thrusters and deployed its landing legs before successfully landing upright for the first time on a barge at sea. Today marks the second time that Elon Musk's company has accomplished such a feat - the first coming back on December 21.

The vehicle will arrive at the space station on Sunday April 10 loaded with 6,900 pounds/3,130 kilograms of science and payload to further advance the research capabilities of the International Space Station. From the Cupola, ESA astronaut Tim Peake will capture Dragon with the station's robotic arm, Canadarm-2, before flight controllers in Mission Control in Houston berth Dragon to the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module a few hours later.

Today's launch marks the Return to Flight of Dragon having been lost shortly after liftoff on its seventh mission to resupply the complex in June 2015.

Sunday's arrival will be an historic one, as it marks the first time that two commercially-built cargo vehicles will be docked to the International Space Station simultaneously. Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo craft is currently berthed to the Unity module of the ISS.

On April 15, robotic operators will once again take control of Canadarm-2 and remove the much anticipated Bigelow Expandable Activity Module(BEAM), and berth it to the aft port of the station's Tranquility module.

Bigelow Expandable Activity Module(BEAM)

BEAM is an expandable habitat built by Bigelow Aerospace that will remain on station for a period of two years. NASA and its partners are currently investigating the practicalities of using expandable habitats in the near-Earth environment as well as on future missions to the Moon or Mars.

This will be the first time an expandable habitat will be docked to the station, so the procedure will take some time, allowing teams to closely observe the expansion process as well as the safety of the crew and the station. During this time the module will expand from its packed dimensions of 7.75 feet in diameter and 5.7 feet long, to its pressurised size of 10,5 feet in diameter and 12 feet long.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module(BEAM) being loaded into the
trunk of the SpaceX Dragon capsule at Cape Canaveral. credit: NASA

The expandable module is made up of soft fabrics instead of metal which allows the habitat to be packed to a small volume during launch and later expanded to its full size in space. Two radiation sensors, temperature and micrometeorite impacts inside BEAM will help scientists and engineers to better understand thermal, radiation and long-term leak performance of expandable habitats.

The habitat will be inflated by the crew at the end of May and it is expected that crew members will enter BEAM twice or three times per six month increment to swap out sensors that need to be returned to Earth for analysis.

The arrival of Dragon on Sunday will bring to an end the recent period of busy traffic to and from the International Space Station. CRS-8 will be the fourth visiting vehicle to visit the laboratory in as many weeks, following the arrival of the Soyuz TMA-20M, Cygnus CRS OA-6 and the Progress 63P.

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Cygnus Cargo Craft Departs International Space Station

Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo ship has departed the International Space Station after a successful 72 day mission to resupply the orbiting laboratory.

Having been unberthed from the Unity Module of the complex earlier in the day, Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Tim Kopra used the station's 57-foot robotic arm to release the unmanned Cygnus at 12:26 p.m. GMT as the two vehicles flew 400 kilometers over Bolivia. This positioned Cygnus for a fiery re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on Saturday.

Cygnus departs the International Space Station(File photo)
credit: NASA

On its fourth mission to resupply the space station, the vehicle nicknamed "S.S. Deke Slayton II" launched atop an Atlas V rocket carrying over 3,500 kilograms of cargo from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral in Florida on December 6.

Among the cargo which served the Expedition 45/46 crews was a new life sciences facility and a micro-satellite deployer, as well as food and other crew provisions.

Today's departure of Deke Slayton II also marks the beginning of a busy period of traffic from visiting vehicles to and from the station. 

On March 1 the year-long mission to the ISS conducted by Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will come to an end as the pair undock their Soyuz TMA-18M from the Poisk module on the Russian segment of the International Space Station alongside Sergey Volkov.

Kelly and Kornienko have been living aboard the station since their arrival on March 28 2015. By the time they return to Earth they will have spent 340 days in space and traveled over 140 million miles.

The departure of Kelly, Kornienko and Volkov will clear the way for the arrival of the next Soyuz to bring three new crew members to the International Space Station. Cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka, Alexey Ovchinin and astronaut Jeff Williams will dock their Soyuz TMA-20M to the vacant docking port on Poisk on March 19. This will be followed just three days later by the launch of the next Cygnus vehicle on it's fifth flight to the station.

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See the Space Station over the UK and Ireland in December

The International Space Station is back flying over the skies of the UK and Ireland this month. The station will be visible after sunset from Monday December 7 up until the evening of Friday December 18. 

Below are the times that the ISS will be visible over the UK and Ireland this December.

*Please note: The details provided above are for Cork, Ireland, so times and sightings will vary slightly depending on your location. Times courtesy of http://spotthestation.nasa.gov

How to see the space station?

If you're out looking for the space station and worried you might not be able to see it- don't worry- you literally can't miss it!

Traveling at a speed of approximately 5 miles a second at an altitude of around 250 miles above the Earth, the International Space Station orbits our planet every 92 minutes. It's the size of a football field with huge solar arrays to supply it with power. Sunlight reflecting off the arrays mean the station is visible from Earth during dawn and dusk, when skies are a bit darker for observers on the ground.

The International Space Station
credit: Wikipedia

You don't need any special equipment- just your eyes. All you are required to know is what time it will be passing over and where to look. It's that easy!

There's nothing like seeing the ISS for the first time! For me, the best thing about it is knowing that there are people living and working up there. Who knows? Maybe while you're looking up at them, one of the six astronauts and cosmonauts on board will be looking out the window at you!

Once you see the orbital complex for the first time, you'll find that you'll want to keep seeing it over and over again! So be sure to tell all your friends, family and neighbours to watch out for the space station flying overhead. There really is no other site quite like it!

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Cygnus Resupply Ship Bound for International Space Station Explodes Seconds After Launch

The Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo craft carrying supplies to the International Space Station has exploded just seconds after launch.

The Antares rocket exploded six seconds after launch. (credit: NASA)

Cygnus which launched in perfect conditions from Pad0A on Wallops Island at 10:22 p.m. Irish Time to begin a nine and a half minute journey to low-Earth orbit suffered a catastrophic anomaly six seconds after launch, falling back down to the launch pad moments later. 

Launch personnel confirmed that there were no personnel in the area at the time of the incident, and that damage was isolated to property within the vicinity.

The Expedition 41 crew aboard the International Space Station were informed shortly after the accident occurred.

Orbital Sciences issued the following statement shortly after the accident:

          “It is far too early to know the details of what happened,” said Mr. Frank Culbertson, Orbital’s Executive Vice President and General Manager of its Advanced Programs Group.“As we begin to gather information, our primary concern lies with the ongoing safety and security of those involved in our response and recovery operations. We will conduct a thorough investigation immediately to determine the cause of this failure and what steps can be taken to avoid a repeat of this incident. As soon as we understand the cause we will begin the necessary work to return to flight to support our customers and the nation’s space program.

Orbital will provide more information as it becomes available and is verified."

 

Among the science Cygnus was to carry to the space station was a study to enable the first space-based observations of meteors entering Earth’s atmosphere, as well as a number of student investigations from around the world.

Cygnus was scheduled to arrive at the station and be berthed to the Earth having port of the Harmony Node on November 2.

Less than twelve hours after the failed launch of Antares, the Russian Progress 57 resupply craft will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:45 a.m., with docking to the Pirs Docking Compartment just over six hours later.

More to follow shortly..

ISS Monthly Recap for July 2014

The six person Expedition 40 crew aboard the International Space Station have wrapped up a very busy month conducting various robotics operations, and a record amount of science and research aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Humans have been living on the ISS for over 5,000 consecutive days

The month began with astronauts in the US segment of the station carrying out maintenance on the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly(CDRA). CDRA is responsible for taking unwanted carbon dioxide in the station's atmosphere out of air circulation. This is important in developing systems for removing CO2 from astronauts' breathing air on missions to Mars and beyond in future spacecraft like NASA's Orion Capsule, which will make its first test flight later this year.

July 12 marked the historic milestone of 5,000 days of humans living aboard the International Space Station. Since the first launch of the Expedition 1 crew back in November 2000, over 24,000 hours of science have been conducted aboard the orbiting lab over 40 expeditions. Coincidentally, the current crew aboard the station set a record in July for the amount of science conducted during a week. The six astronauts and cosmonauts completed 82 hours worth of science and research, which will benefit people back on Earth, as well astronauts living in space.

July was a busy month also for the arrival and departures of cargo spacecraft.
On July 16, the Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo craft arrived at the International Space Station. After launching from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on July 13. Expedition 40 commander Steve Swanson and Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst supervised the rendezvous and docking procedures three days later on the 16th. Hatches between the ISS and Cygnus were opened on the following morning.

The arrival of Cygnus was followed up by the departure of the Russian Progress 55 resupply ship, which undocked from the station's Pirs Docking Compartment on July 21. 

Cygnus is captured by the station's robotic arm on July 16.

And we all know that things just wouldn't be the same at the ISS if there wasn't a Progress attached. So that's why just a couple of days later the Progress 56 resupply ship launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, arriving at station on July 24- just six hours after launch.

Finally, in the wee hours of the morning of July 30, the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle launched from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana on the final mission of the ATV programme. 

ATV-5, which is named after Belgian astronomer George Lemaitre, will spend the next two weeks making its way to the station before it's automated docking to the Zvezda Service Module on August 12.

In summary, July was a very eventful, busy and successful month aboard the International Space Station. With all this new cargo aboard, August has all the makings of being yet another very busy and exciting month aboard the ISS with a series of spacewalks planned for mid-August, along with the arrival of George Lemaitre to the International Space Station.

Cygnus Cargo Craft Arrives at International Space Station

The Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo craft has arrived at the International Space Station.

On just its second official resupply mission to the orbiting outpost(Orb-2), and traveling at 5 miles a second, Cygnus was captured by Expedition 40 crew members Steve Swanson of NASA and Alexander Gerst of ESA.

Working from the robotics workstation in the Cupola, the pair slowly moved the station's 57 foot long robot arm, Canadarm2, into position before capturing and grappling Cygnus at 11:36 a.m. Irish Time.

Once Cygnus was now in the capable hands of Canadarm2, robotics teams on the ground turned their attention to berthing Cygnus to the Earth facing port of the Harmony Module. Berthing of Cygnus to Harmony occurred at 1:53 p.m.

Expedition 40 crew members running test captures ahead of Cygnus' arrival

Just some of Orbital-2's cargo include 28 Cubesats, which are small, inexpensive satellites that can be used for Earth imaging and disaster monitoring. Also on board is a satellite related investigation, and some student experiments that will be unpacked by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, further enhancing the station's scientific and technological capabilities.

Cygnus is expected to remain docked to the station for around a month, before being unberthed and released by Canadarm2, destined for a fiery demise by burning up in the Earth's atmosphere.

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Cygnus Launches on Second Mission to ISS

The Orbital Sciences' Cygnus spacecraft has launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, destined for the International Space Station.

Orb-2 or Cygnus, which is just after launching atop an Antares rocket on its second official resupply mission to the orbital laboratory, lifted off of Launch Pad 0A at 5:52 p.m. Irish Time today(July 13). The cargo craft is carrying a little under 1.500 kilograms of cargo, supplies and spare parts to the ISS.

Orbital Sciences Cygnus launches from Wallops on its Orb-2 mission to the ISS.

Launch of Orb-2 was originally scheduled for July 11. However, poor weather conditions at Wallops delayed the scheduled rollout of the Antares rocket, with launch scheduled for Saturday(July 12). However, the launch was postponed once again by one day due to further adverse weather conditions at the launch site.

Provided all goes according to plan, Cygnus will carry out a series of orbital maneuvers and burns, adjusting its orbit so that it can rendezvous with the station on July 16.

Traveling at 5 miles a second and working from the station's robotics workstation in the Cupola, Expedition 40 commander Steve Swanson, assisted by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, will be in charge of grappling the spacecraft using the station's 57 foot-long robotic arm, Canadarm2. Cygnus is expected to be grappled at 11:37 a.m. Robotics teams on the ground will then berth Cygnus to the Earth facing port of the Harmony Module a few hours later.

Expedition 40 crew members running test captures ahead of Cygnus' arrival

Just some of Orbital-2's cargo include 28 Cubesats, which are small, inexpensive satellites that can be used for Earth imaging and disaster monitoring. Also on board is a satellite related investigation, and some student experiments that will be unpacked by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, further enhancing the station's scientific and technological capabilities.

Cygnus is expected to remain docked to the station for around a month, before being unberthed and released by Canadarm2, destined for a fiery demise by burning up in the Earth's atmosphere.

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Cygnus Completes its First Mission to ISS

The Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo craft has completed its first resupply mission to the International Space Station, burning up in the Earth's atmosphere on February 19 after spending over a month docked to the station.

Cygnus was released by Canadarm2 at 11:41 a.m. Irish Time

Expedition 38 flight engineers Koichi Wakata and Mike Hopkins, working from the Cupola, used the station's 57 foot-long Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach Cygnus from the Earth facing port of the Harmony Module and manipulate it into a position for release.

Hopkins, who is making his first space flight, took control of Canadarm2, before releasing Cygnus at 11:41 a.m. Irish Time, as the station flew 260 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.

Now loaded with trash and other unwanted items the crew no longer needed, Wakata and Hopkins commanded Cygnus to perform a 90 second departure burn to move a safe distance away from the ISS.

Cygnus, which is named after the late Gordon C. Fullerton, performed a series of orbital maneuvers and de-orbit burns on Wednesday, before burning up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean later that evening.

With the departure of Cygnus, attention turns to the next launch of a cargo ship from US soil. The Space X Dragon capsule will make its third resupply flight to the International Space Station, with the launch of Space X-3 from Cape Canaveral on March 16.

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NASA Postpones Cygnus Launch Ahead of Trio of Spacewalks to Repair Faulty Pump Module

NASA has postponed the launch of the Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo resupply vehicle to the International Space Station, after the space agency announced that a trio of EVAs will take place outside the station during the Christmas holidays in order to repair a faulty ammonia pump which regulates space station cooling.

Rick Mastracchio tweeted a picture of his EMU

Cygnus, which is making its second visit to the station, was scheduled to launch from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on December 19. Atop an Antares rocket, it will now attempt launch on January 9, with launch occurring no later than January 13 2014.

This postponement will allow Expedition 38 flight engineers Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastrachio to conduct a trio of EVAs outside the orbiting complex in an effort to repair the faulty pump module. These three spacewalks will take place on December 21, 23 and 25. Each EVA will commence at 12:10 p.m. Irish Time.

 They will replace it with an existing spare that is stored on an external stowage platform. The pump is associated with one of the station's two external cooling loops, which circulate ammonia outside the station to keep both internal and external equipment cool.

This is the same pump which was repaired by Expedition 24 flight engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, after completing three spacewalks in 2010.

More to follow..

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Orbital Sciences Cygnus Cargo Craft Departs Space Station

The Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo craft named "G. David Low" has departed the International Space Station after spending nearly a month docked to the orbiting laboratory.

Cygnus, which is making its maiden voyage to the station, arrived at the ISS on September 29 carrying 1,300 pounds of cargo for the crew on board. It was docked to the station's Harmony Module by ESA Astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg. Since then, the Expedition 37 crew living on station have been busy unloading cargo, and filling it instead with waste materials no longer needed on the ISS.

Cygnus Docked to the Harmony Module of the
International Space Station
credit: NASA

The Cygnus vehicle was unberthed from Harmony before it was released by the station's Canadarm2 at 12:31 p.m.

Cygnus will spend a short time in low-Earth Orbit before before it is de-orbited for a fiery demise over the Pacific Ocean.

The departure of Cygnus marks the beginning of a period of heavy traffic for the International Space Station. On October 28, just six days after today's events, the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle "Albert Einstein" will undock from the station's Zvezda Service Module, after spending more than four months at the orbiting complex.

Expedition 37 crew member Sergey Ryazanskiy
working in the Poisk Mini Research Module
credit: NASA

This will clear the way for the Soyuz TMA-09M crew; Commander Fyodor Yurchikin, Karen Nyberg and Luca Parmitano; to relocate their spacecraft from the station's Rassvet Module to the vacant docking port on Zvezda. This will allow the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft to dock with Rassvet, just six hours after launch on November 7 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, bringing Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, JAXA Astronaut Koichi Wakata and NASA Astronaut Rick Mastracchio to the ISS.

As a result, there will be nine astronauts and cosmonauts aboard station for around four days, before Yurchikin, Nyberg and Parmitano will leave the International Space Station, their home for the past 5 months.

Before they leave, Expedition 37 commader Yurchikin will hand over command of the International Space Station to fellow Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov.

The trio will depart on November 11, marking the beginning of the 38th Expedition to the International Space Station.