The International Space Station is a collaborative project between five space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA; and 16 nations. The Space Station serves as a floating laboratory in Low-Earth orbit. First launched in 1998, the station has been continually occupied by humans since 2000 and sees continual updates.
The International Space Station, in its name, is an international cooperation between both space agencies and nations. All these nations support funding for maintaining and providing experiments and crew for the station.
Late Monday, SpaceX brought back Dragon Endeavour from its six-month stay at the International Space Station. Onboard were SpaceX’s Crew-2 astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide, and Thomas Pesquet.
SpaceX and NASA are planning to undock Crew-2 and their Crew Dragon Endeavour and return to Earth today. This will conclude a six-month stay on the International Space Station for the four astronauts.
Spacecraft continue to advance, and one of the latest new spacecraft to enter operation is SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. As Crew-3 prepares for launch to the station, Crew-2 needs to return home, and Crew-2’s Dragon capsule is nearing the limit for continuous-time in space. But what is that limit, and why is the spacecraft limited?
NASA has delayed the launch of Crew-3 to no sooner than Monday, November 8, at 9:51 p.m. due to poor weather conditions locally and in abort zones. NASA also stated that they will now look at returning Crew-2 as soon as this Sunday, November 7, confirming our speculations earlier this week.
We’ve seen not one but two delays now for SpaceX’s Crew-3 mission. While we hope for a speedy recovery for the crew member who suffered from the “minor medical issue,” we have to ask, What does this mean for the return home for Crew-2, the current residents of the ISS?
SpaceX‘s Crew-3 mission for NASA’s Commerical Crew Program is scheduled for Halloween (October 31) at 2:21 a.m. EDT. Tuesday, they arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility ahead of this weekend’s launch.
The Russian cargo ship “Progress 78” relocated to the Nauka module this Friday. There the spacecraft will allow the crew to conduct tests on the brand new module.
Roscosmos is preparing to launch two private citizens and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station for a week and a half to film scenes for a movie called Challenge. NASA will provide live coverage of the launch.
Shortly after the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission returned to Earth, associate administrator of Space Operations Mission Directorate Kathy Lueders announced that Axiom will be launching its private mission to the ISS on February 21, 2022.
Late last month Nanoracks announced the launch of a new company, StarLab Oasis. The company is aimed at addressing desertification, climate change, water scarcity, and food security.
After weather scrubbed SpaceX’s first attempt to launch CRS-23, they will be trying again tonight. This mission will feature a Falcon 9 rocket launching the company’s Dragon 2 cargo vehicle to the International Space Station. This will be SpaceX’s 23rd mission for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services program and 3rd for the CRS-2 contract.
Departing today, was SpaceX’s shiny new droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG) ahead of their CRS-23 mission to resupply the International Space Station for NASA.
Update: In a press conference Boeing and NASA detailed why they will be moving Starliner back to their factory and the next possible launch opportunities.
The ongoing saga that is Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft takes another unfortunate turn today. Boeing has announced that it will return Starliner to its factory after experiencing hardware issues that prevented a launch attempt.
Today Northrop Grumman plans to launch their 16th Cygnus spacecraft from Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) for NASA. Today’s mission will see an Antares rocket launch the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station. It will deliver over 3,000 pounds of food, experiments, and other supplies to the station for its crew to use. The spacecraft will also conduct experiments on its way to and after departing the space station.
After a year and a half of focusing on software issues, Boeing has paused its Starliner Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2) mission to the International Space Station today. The launch was scheduled for this afternoon but scrubbed hours before liftoff due to a propulsion system issue with the spacecraft.
Boeing’s mission is to have its uncrewed Starliner spacecraft reach the International Space Station and return safely before it can be rated for human spaceflight. Boeing is one of two providers for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (along with SpaceX) to transport astronauts to and from the space station.
Earlier this week Russia launched their newest module to the International Space Station. After a rough orbit insertion, Nauka caused even more issues when it started firing its thrusters while attached to the International Space Station. Video shows Nauka’s docking mishap.
The new “Nauka” Space Station module arrived at the ISS early this morning. Since then, it has caused the station to lose attitude control by firing its thrusters without being commanded. The ISS has since regained attitude control.
On July 21st, a new module to join the International Space Station launched on a Proton rocket into orbit. Since then numerous issues with the Nauka module have cropped up, but recently, it seems to be trending well.
Friday, July 16th, NASA announced that veteran astronaut Doug Hurley will retire from his career within the Astronaut Office. Hurley’s career has spanned the retirement of the shuttle, activation of SpaceX’s dragon, and an overall change in NASA’s culture.
Space Shuttle Atlantis currently resides in an exhibit building at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, its permanent home. Back on this day in 2011, Atlantis would fly for the last time. STS-135 marked the end of the Space Shuttle Program.
On SpaceX’s CRS-22, the first pair of new solar panels were sent up to the ISS to give the station a little boost. Tomorrow two astronauts will conduct a third spacewalk to continue installing the station’s newest addition.
