Space life

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft loaded with cargo bound for the International Space Station stands vertical on Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman’s 18th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver more than 8,000 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. The CRS-18 Cygnus spacecraft is named after the first American woman in space, Sally Ride, and is scheduled to launch at 5:50 a.m., Sunday, Oct. 6, 2022, EST. Photo Credit: (NASA/Jamie Adkins) The Wallops Range 24-hour forecast issued today for the Tuesday, Aug. 1, launch of Northrop Grumman’s 19th resupply mission to the International Space Station continues to keep weather at 80%  favorable, with a slight chance of cumulus clouds  being the main weather concern.   The upper-level ...

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft loaded with cargo bound for the International Space Station is stood up vertical on Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, Friday, July 28, 2023, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Photo Credit: (Northrop Grumman/Thom Baur) The Expedition 69 crew is gearing up for a cargo delivery to the International Space Station this week. Health investigations and spacesuit surveys were also conducted today. NASA astronauts Woody Hoburg and Frank Rubio spent most of their day preparing for Friday’s capture of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft. The duo completed another robotics practice session of Cygnus berthing and capture in the morning, followed by a practice of grapple procedures in the Cupola using the station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2 , in the afternoon. Cygnus is targeted to launch tomorrow, Aug. 1 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, carrying more than 8,200 pounds of supplies and science...

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft loaded with cargo bound for the International Space Station stands vertical on Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, Saturday, July 29, 2023, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman’s 19th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver more than 8,200 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. The CRS-19 Cygnus spacecraft is named after NASA astronaut Dr. Laurel Clark who flew aboard Columbia STS-107, and is scheduled to launch at 8:31 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Photo Credit: (NASA/Patrick Black) The Wallops Range 48-hour forecast issued today for the Tuesday, Aug. 1, launch of Northrop Grumman’s 19th resupply mission to the International Space Station continues to keep weather at 80% favorable, with a slight chance of cumulus clouds  being the main weather concern.   ...

A prelaunch teleconference will be held today, July 30, at 5 p.m. EDT or no earlier than 1 hour following the mission Launch Readiness Review. The teleconference will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website and will highlight launch preparations for Northrop Grumman’s 19th contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station to deliver more than 8,200 pounds of research , supplies, and hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. Launch is still on schedule for 8:31 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 1.  Viewers can submit questions for the briefings using #AskNASA on social media.   File photo from June 28, 2022, of a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft grappled by the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. Credit: NASA Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft will launch on the company’s Antares rocket from Virginia Space Authority’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.   The ...

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft loaded with cargo bound for the International Space Station arrives at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, Friday, July 28, 2023, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman’s 19th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver more than 8,200 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. The CRS-19 Cygnus spacecraft is named after NASA astronaut Dr. Laurel Clark who flew aboard Columbia STS-107, and is scheduled to launch at 8:31 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. Photo Credit: (NASA/Patrick Black) The Wallops Range forecast issued today for the Tuesday, Aug. 1, launch of Northrop Grumman’s 19th resupply mission to the International Space Station puts weather at 80 % favorable. A weak area of high pressure will move off the coast Sunday evening, as a weak upper-level disturbance tracks ...

The next resupply mission to the International Space Station from commercial cargo provider Northrop Grumman is preparing for launch during a window that opens Tuesday, Aug. 1, at 8:31 p.m. EDT at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.   On August 10, 2021, the Northrop Grumman Antares vehicle carrying the Cygnus launched at 6:01 p.m. EDT, carrying science, technology and supplies to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA/Brian Bonsteel Loaded with more than 8,200 pounds of research , crew supplies, and hardware, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft will launch on the company’s Antares rocket from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad 0A on Wallops Island.   The Cygnus spacecraft for this launch is named in honor of the late NASA astronaut, undersea medical officer, and naval flight officer Laurel Clark . Selected by NASA in 1996, Dr. Clark flew as a mission specialist aboard Columbia STS-107.   Live coverage of the l...

NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen installs student-made hardware next to the Destiny laboratory module’s Microgravity Science Glovebox to test a platform that improves the stability of cameras used to track targets on the ground or take images and video inside the International Space Station. It’s a jam-packed Friday for the Expedition 69 crew aboard the International Space Station . Ahead of their off-duty weekend, the crew moved payloads and stowage and two astronauts completed a second robotics practice session in preparation for next week’s cargo delivery. NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg started his day collecting additional samples for the Standard Measures investigation. He then moved into the Tranquility module to clean out stowage. Later in the morning, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi joined Hoburg to assist with unstowing the NanoRacks External Platform from the NanoRacks Bishop Airlock . Hoburg also fixed some eth...

iss067e156138 (July 28, 2022) — Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is positioned away from the International Space Station on June 28, 2022 in the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm prior to its release ending a four-month stay attached to the orbiting lab’s Unity module. The Expedition 69 crew members carried out more station maintenance activities today aboard the International Space Station as they gear up for a busy month of mission events in August. NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen was tasked with troubleshooting water supply hoses and replacing connections in the Glovebox Freezer , which integrates into the Life Sciences Glovebox sealed work space to rapid freeze biological samples. Additionally, Bowen removed samples from Iceberg for future assessment, which provides cold stowage for science and research aboard the orbital lab. NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi began their day collecting samples for the Stan...

NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg monitors an Astrobee robotic free-flyer in the Kibo laboratory module testing its operations in conjunction with mission controllers. The robotics work is being done to demonstrate ways to control the free-flyers using student-written code that recognizes multiple gestures. Another round of safety training is underway today on the International Space Station . The Expedition 69 crew members were also tasked with robotic activities, ultrasound scans and station maintenance. United Arab Emirates (UAE) Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi powered on the station’s free-flying robots, Astrobee , in the morning. Later in the day, NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg performed a Zero Robotics dry run with Astrobee in the Japanese Experiment Module and assisted grounds teams with multiple software test runs. In dry run sessions, the Astrobee robots verify various aspects and programming for the Zero Robotics student competition—a program...

NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen is pictured conducting maintenance activities. The seven-member Expedition 69 crew is keeping busy Tuesday with a round of training, prepping for an upcoming cargo delivery and tending to plants aboard the International Space Station . NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio , joined by Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin of Roscosmos began the day with a round of safety training. The rest of the crew, including NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg , United Arab Emirates (UAE) Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi and Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos completed the same training midafternoon. Rubio then tended to seedlings growing aboard the orbital lab in Plant Habitat-03 , thinning the Arabidopsis sprouts to retain a singular healthy plant per unit. These ongoing investigations assess if adaptations in one generation of plants grown in space can transfer to the next. Meanwhile,...

Expedition 69 Flight Engineers (from left) Woody Hoburg and Frank Rubio, both NASA astronauts, are pictured relaxing in the Unity module after an afternoon of orbital plumbing tasks aboard the International Space Station. The Expedition 69 crew aboard the International Space Station is keeping busy on Monday with Genes in Space operations, human health research, robotics work, and station maintenance. NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio started his day removing hard drives for future return. Following last week’s session , Rubio once again booted up the Surface Avatar laptop computer in the Columbus Laboratory module and ran another session to investigate how haptic controls, user interfaces and virtual reality could command and control surface-bound robots from long distances. NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg began his day installing a carbon analyzer that determines the quality of recovered water aboard the orbital lab. He then set up hardware for the Standard Measures investigat...

NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen works on life support hardware inside the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory module. Two Expedition 69 crew members are preparing for the upcoming Northrop Grumman cargo resupply mission. Space biology and another round of eye exams are also underway today aboard the International Space Station . NASA astronauts Frank Rubio and Woody Hoburg spent most of their morning reviewing procedures and completing training for Northrop Grumman’s 19 th commercial resupply mission bound for the station in August. Rubio and Hoburg will assist with the rendezvous and docking of the Cygnus spacecraft as it delivers new science investigations , hardware and supplies for the crew. The duo also worked on the BFF-Meniscus investigation, retrieving samples and printing with cells using the BioFabrication Facility —a 3D printer that investigates the feasibility of printing organ-like tissues in microgravity. Later in the...

NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio is pictured setting up robotic camera hardware inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module. Three Expedition 69 crew members completed another round of eye exams today aboard the International Space Station . Various maintenance and clean-up activities were also underway in multiple service modules. NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen collected salvia samples early in the morning then began installation work in the Japanese Experiment Module on a system that provides fluorescent images of biological samples. Later in the day, Bowen and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi worked in tandem to troubleshoot the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED), following yesterday’s six-month maintenance. The two were joined by NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg later in the evening to complete a third round of eye exams using imaging hardware. Ahead of the exams, Hoburg inspected a system that c...

Expedition 69 Flight Engineers (from top) Sultan Alneyadi of UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Woody Hoburg of NASA are pictured inside the Tranquility module working on life support maintenance tasks aboard the International Space Station. Eye scans and station maintenance continue for the Expedition 69 crew aboard the International Space Station today. NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg started his day observing and taking photos of satellites that were recently deployed from a Small Satellite Orbital Deployer in the Japanese Experiment Module . He then moved into the station’s Tranquility module to troubleshoot and inspect the Air Revitalization System rack, which removes Carbon Dioxide from the air and monitors the cabin atmosphere. Near the end of the day, Hoburg joined United Arab Emirates (UAE) Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi for an eye ultrasound exam following Alneyadi’s earlier set up of the equipment. Frequent exams of the sort are necessary for the crew to mitigate any not...

NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio is pictured working inside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock. After a well-deserved day off yesterday, the Expedition 69 crew aboard the International Space Station is back to work performing a variety of maintenance activities, science experiments, and vision exams. NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Frank Rubio is on track to set the record for the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut later this year; Today, he spent his 300 th day in space. Rubio’s day consisted of installing the Surface Avatar laptop, which investigates how haptic controls, user interfaces and virtual reality could command and control surface-bound robots from long distances. Additionally, he analyzed water from the station’s Water Processing Assembly located in the Tranquility module and performed EVA battery maintenance. NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg started his morning performing monthly maintenance on the station’s tr...

The Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter is pictured in the grip of the Canadarm2 robotic arm as ground controllers remotely install the cargo craft to the International Space Station’s Unity module. The Expedition 69 crew members took a well-deserved day off after working on past weekends aboard the International Space Station . Looking ahead, August is shaping up to be a busy month with crew and cargo missions. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft will be delivering new science investigations —including studies of fire suppression, gene therapy, and atmospheric monitoring—as well as crew supplies and hardware to the station. This will mark the company’s 19 th commercial resupply mission for NASA. In addition to science deliveries, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission will make its way to the station in August as well. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli , European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andres Mogensen , Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and...

iss069e031305 (July 13, 2023) — NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Frank Rubio poses for a photo as he inspects blankets and blanket covers in crew quarters for future replacements. A light-duty day for the Expedition 69 crew is underway following a busy week aboard the International Space Station . NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg began his day reconfiguring cable connections on the Multipurpose Experiment Platform. He then moved into completing computer maintenance. Following Monday’s installation of a Small Satellite Orbital Deployer , Hoburg resumed that work in the Japanese Experiment Module in preparation for future mini satellites to deploy. NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen completed maintenance in the station’s Harmony module. Afterward, he moved around the station to document the reconfiguration of NASA payload racks which support and store research experiments aboard the orbital lab. Bowen finished out his day charging and swapping batteries on the free-flying...