Posts Tagged ‘ISS’

Russian Progress M-14M docks – M-13M de-orbits following satellite deploy

Friday, January 27th, 2012

The uncrewed Russian Progress M-14M resupply spacecraft, also going by its US designation of 46P, has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday morning (GMT). Ahead of the M-14M events, the recently undocked Progress M-13M/45P performed the unusual procedure of deploying a microsatellite into space prior to de-orbiting.

Read more... »

Dragon ISS flight slips – SpaceX determined to return US crewed access to LEO

Monday, January 16th, 2012

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 flight with the Dragon spaceship – a mission which is expected to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) – is slipping in order to allow for due diligence “safety checks” ahead of launch. SpaceX’s decision to slip what was a February 7 launch came after comments noting their sense of [...]

Read more... »

ISS performs hardware and software upgrades to support inaugural Dragon visit

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

The six-member crew of the International Space Station (ISS) have been hard at work over the past few weeks, performing multiple hardware and software upgrades in order to ready the station to support the new fleet of commercial resupply vehicles, ahead of next month’s inaugural visit of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to the orbital outpost.

Read more... »

ISS sails into challenging 2012 on back of successful achievements in 2011

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

The International Space Station (ISS) has now entered what will be a challenging new year, which will see access to the station for both crews and cargo tested, in wake of last year’s retirement of the Space Shuttle, the start of new commercial resupply flights, and recent failures of Russian launch vehicles.

Read more... »

Year in Review – Part 3: ISS makes new discoveries about living in space

Friday, December 30th, 2011

In a year that saw the station finally completed after nearly 13 years of construction, a number of new discoveries relating to the effects of long-term microgravity environments on the human body brought scientific activities aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to a record high in 2011.

Read more... »

Assessing the Soyuz failure with Meridian – Redressing Russia’s internal woes

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

Just hours before the Soyuz TMA-03M successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS), another Russian Soyuz launch vehicle failed during its task to loft the Meridian-5 satellite into orbit. The failure became the main subject of a post-docking media briefing for TMA-03M, resulting in Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin portraying serious internal issues at the [...]

Read more... »

Soyuz TMA-03M docks to ISS, returns station to six crewmembers for future ops

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

The Russian Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft, also known by its US designation of 29S, successfully docked to the ISS at the Mini Research Module-1 (MRM-1) “Rassvet” Nadir docking port, vacated just over one month ago by Soyuz TMA-02M/27S, at 3:19 PM GMT on Friday.

Read more... »

Russian Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft launches to International Space Station

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

The Russian Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft – also known by its US designation of 29S – has launched toward the International Space Station (ISS) from the wintry Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today at 1:16 PM GMT (7:16 PM local Kazakh time), carrying three crewmembers for the station’s current Expedition 30 and future Expedition 31 crews.

Read more... »

Building the Roadmap for SLS – Con Ops lays out the LEO/Lunar Options

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

With evaluations continuing into NASA’s future crewed exploration aspirations, the foundations behind what should be a definitive roadmap – otherwise known as Exploration Systems Development (ESD) Design Reference Missions (DRM) – are starting to come to light, as outlined in the Space Launch System (SLS) Concept Of Operations (Con Ops) document.

Read more... »

NASA managers announce February 7 launch date for Dragon ISS mission

Friday, December 9th, 2011

In what will be a highly historic mission, NASA managers announced they have approved the combination of the Dragon C2/C3 (D2/D3) Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) missions, pending final reviews. A preliminary launch date of February 7 was also set, which will see SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch with an unmanned Dragon to the ISS.

Read more... »

SpaceX Dragon ISS flight to slip further, pending combined mission approval

Monday, December 5th, 2011

SpaceX’s Dragon demonstration flight to the International Space Station (ISS) is understood to be moving into the February/March timeframe, while approval for the combination of the C2/C3 (D2/D3) missions – which would result in Dragon arriving at the orbital outpost – is still pending official approval from NASA and the ISS partners. UPDATE: Combined Mission approved on [...]

Read more... »

Exploration Gateway Platform hosting Reusable Lunar Lander proposed

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

In a potential marriage of the Space Launch System (SLS) with a central exploration plan, a Boeing-authored presentation has proposed an Exploration Gateway Platform architecture that not only returns man to the lunar surface – via the use of only one SLS launch to a reusable Lunar Lander – but provides a baseline for pathfinders [...]

Read more... »

Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft returns to Earth with three crewmembers

Monday, November 21st, 2011

The Russian Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft, also going by its US designation of 27S, has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and returned to Earth on Tuesday morning, carrying three members of the outgoing Expedition 29 crew. As the second of the new “digital” Soyuz TMA-M variants, a special attitude control test was performed post-undocking.

Read more... »

Not quite Armageddon: Oil field workers to train at JSC’s NBL Facility

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

An agreement has been signed between Raytheon Technical Services and Petrofac Training Services to allow oil workers to train at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory’s giant pool. While training scenes for fictional oil workers were seen during the movie Armageddon, Petrofac’s team won’t be preparing to save the planet, instead using the facility to fine tune [...]

Read more... »

Soyuz TMA-22 docks to International Space Station – de-crew averted

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

Russia’s Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft has successfully docked to the International Space Station (ISS) after a two day free flight following a flawless launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday. The arrival of Soyuz TMA-22 with three crewmembers has averted a possible de-crewing of the station following the failure of a Soyuz booster in August.

Read more... »

Soyuz TMA-22 succcessfully launches first crewed mission since STS-135

Sunday, November 13th, 2011

In what was a critical launch for the Russian space program, the Soyuz FG launch vehicle has successfully lofted the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft into orbit ahead of a two day trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Launch took place at 04:15am on Monday morning from the very snowy Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Read more... »

Progress successfully docks to ISS; Stage set for return of manned Soyuz flight

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

Just over two months after the launch failure of the Progress 44P unmanned resupply craft to the International Space Station, Russian Federal Space Agency officials have successfully docked the Progress 45P spacecraft to the International Space Station in a return to flight event that paves the way for the resumption of manned Soyuz launches to [...]

Read more... »

Progress Launch: Russia successfully resumes Soyuz booster flights to the ISS

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos has successfully returned the venerable Soyuz booster to flight via the launch of the Soyuz-U booster carrying the uncrewed Progress M-13M/45P resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch is the first successful Soyuz booster flight to the ISS since the 24th August failure of the Soyuz-U booster carrying [...]

Read more... »

ISS Community reviews Station Progress, Anomalies, and Upcoming Flights

Monday, October 24th, 2011

As part of standard operating procedure, the ISS community has completed a review of the International Space Station’s systems – noting both progress and anomalies on the orbiting laboratory as well as reviewing preparations for the upcoming Dragon, Cygnus, and HTV-3 flights.

Read more... »

ISS managers prepare for possible de-crew – launches to resume soon

Monday, October 10th, 2011

International Space Station (ISS) Program managers are continuing with precautionary preparations for station operations without the presence of on-board crewmembers, in the event that a de-crewing of the ISS is needed should Russia be unable to return the Soyuz booster to flight by mid-November.

Read more... »