Tagged with international space station
(WIREUPDATE) – The dramatic flood of oil in the Gulf of Mexico looks ‘very scary’ from space, International Space Station Commander Oleg Kotov said on Tuesday. “Just 30 minutes ago we passed over the Mexican Gulf and we took a lot of pictures of this oil spot,” the Russian cosmonaut told reporters on Earth via [...]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Satellite systems in space keyed to detect nuclear events and environmental gasses currently face a kind of data logjam because their increasingly powerful sensors produce more information than their available bandwidth can easily transmit. Experiments conducted by Sandia National Laboratories at the International Space Station preliminarily indicate that the problem could be [...]
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — The Space Shuttle Atlantis on Friday afternoon lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on its final mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission will deliver cargo, critical spare parts and a Russian laboratory to the station.
With a crew of six on board, the space shuttle lifted off at 2.20 p.m. Eastern time on its 32nd and final flight. More than 40,000 people had gathered at the launch site to catch one of the few remaining space shuttle flights.
The Russian-built Mini Research Module-1 is inside the shuttle’s cargo bay. Also known as Rassvet (dawn in Russian), it will provide additional storage space and a new docking port for Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. The laboratory will be attached to the bottom port of the station’s Zarya module.
The STS-132 crew consists of Commander Ken Ham, who is joined by Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman, Michael Good, Steve Bowen, and Piers Sellers, all veteran space fliers. Good and Sellers rode Atlantis into orbit on their first space missions in 2009 and 2002, respectively.
The shuttle crew is scheduled to dock to the station at 10:27 a.m. EDT on Sunday. The mission’s three spacewalks will focus on
storing spare components outside the station, including six batteries, a communications antenna and parts for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm.
After completing the 12-day STS-132 mission, the shuttle’s first landing opportunity at Kennedy is scheduled for 8:44 a.m. on Wednesday, May 26. STS-132 is the 132nd shuttle flight, the 32nd flight for Atlantis and the 34th shuttle mission dedicated to station assembly and maintenance.
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CAPE CANAVERAL (BNO NEWS) — NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis on Friday afternoon lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on its final mission to the International Space Station.
With a crew of six on board, the space shuttle lifted off at 2.20 p.m. Eastern time on its 32nd and final flight. More than 40,000 people had gathered at the launch site to catch one of the few remaining space shuttle flights.
(Copyright 2010 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without explicit prior permission from BNO News B.V. Contact sales@bnonews.com for more information about subscriptions.)
CAPE CANAVERAL (BNO NEWS) — NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on its final mission to the International Space Station.
(Copyright 2010 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without explicit prior permission from BNO News B.V. Contact sales@bnonews.com for more information about subscriptions.)
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) – NASA announced that space shuttle Discovery and seven astronauts landed safely Tuesday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The 15-day journey of more than 6.2 million miles, fortified the International Space Station, delivering science racks, new crew sleeping quarters, equipment and supplies. In addition, the STS-131 mission crew were able to install a new ammonia storage tank for the station’s cooling system, replace a gyroscope for the station’s navigation system and remove a Japanese experiment from outside the Kibo laboratory for examination on Earth during three spacewalks.
Alan Poindexter commanded the flight and was joined by Pilot Jim Dutton and Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, Clay Anderson, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Naoko Yamazaki. Lindenburger is the last of three teachers selected as mission specialists in the 2004 Educator-Astronaut class to fly on the shuttle.
“We had a lot of adversity but we overcame it all with some great team work,” said Mission Specialist Anderson, who participated in the mission’s three spacewalks and previously spent five months at the space station. “I’ve had two homecomings this flight. I got to go home to the International Space Station and now I get to come home to KSC (Kennedy Space Center). To all of you who helped get us up and bring us back, thank you so very much. God bless America.”
The STS-131 crew members officially concluded their successful mission to the International Space Station when the shuttle touched ground at 9:08 a.m. EDT.
A welcome ceremony for the astronauts will be held Wednesday, April 21, in Houston. The public is invited to attend the 4 p.m. CDT event at Ellington Field’s NASA Hangar 990.
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INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (BNO NEWS) – NASA announced on Friday that its Discovery crew members completed their first spacewalk.
Spacewalkers Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson completed a six-hour, 27-minute spacewalk at 7:58 a.m. EDT, finishing all their primary assignments, and even began other tasks ahead of time. The pair helped move a new 1,700-pound ammonia tank from Discovery’s cargo bay to a temporary parking place on the International Space Station.
In addition, the two astronauts retrieved an experiment from the Japanese Kibo Laboratory exposed facility and replaced a Rate Gyro Assembly on one of the truss segments.
Mission Specialist Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger choreographed the spacewalk from inside, coaching the spacewalkers through their tasks.
STS-131 has three spacewalks scheduled, and the first one of Discovery’s current mission marks the 234th conducted by U.S. astronauts. It also marks Mastracchio and Anderson second spacewalk together.
The duo will complete the replacement of a depleted ammonia tank on the station during the mission’s second and third spacewalks, scheduled for Sunday and Tuesday. Discovery will bring the depleted tank back to Earth to be refilled for subsequent return to the station.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) – NASA announced Friday that space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch in April.
Discovery’s 13-day flight to the International Space Station is set, as launch is expected at 6:21 a.m. EDT on April 5 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, making its 38th mission and its 33rd shuttle flight. It will be delivering science and supplies to the station, as it is carrying the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo and a pressurized “moving van” that will be temporarily attached to the station.
The module is filled with supplies, a new crew sleeping quarters and science racks will be transferred to the station’s laboratories. The flight will also include three spacewalks to switch out a gyroscope on the station’s truss, or backbone, install a spare ammonia storage tank and return a used one, and retrieve a Japanese experiment from the station’s exterior.
Commander Alan Poindexter will be guiding the shuttle, and he will be accompanied by Pilot Jim Dutton, Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson, Clay Anderson and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki.
After senior NASA and contractor managers met and assessed the risks associated with the mission at Kennedy, they determined that the shuttle’s equipment, support systems and procedures are ready.
The mission is the second of five shuttle missions planned for 2010, with the last flight already scheduled for September.
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