After a picture-perfect launch from Kazakhstan and a problem-free rendezvous, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked at the International Space Station Friday, boosting the lab's crew back to six and, for the first time, giving NASA and the European Space Agency four astronauts devoted to research in the U.S. segment of the complex.

With commander Sergey Ryazanskiy monitoring an automated approach, flanked on his left by NASA flight engineer Randy Bresnik and on the right by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft docked at the Earth-facing Rassvet module at 5:54 p.m. ET.

The linkup came about six hours after the crew blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, at 11:41:12 a.m., departing from the same pad that was used to launch Sputnik 60 years ago and Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, in 1961.

Nearly two hours after docking, after verifying an airtight seal between the space station and the Soyuz, hatches were opened and Expedition 52 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, flight engineer Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson, NASA's most experienced astronaut, welcomed their new crewmates aboard with hugs and handshakes.

The station's expanded six-member crew. Front row, left to right: Paolo Nespoli, Soyuz MS-05 commander Sergey Ryazanskiy and NASA flight engineer Randy Bresnik. Back row, left to right: Peggy Whitson, station commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Jack Fischer.

NASA

The six-member crew then floated into the Russian Zvezda module for a traditional post-docking video call to family and friends back at the launch site. NASA's acting administrator, Robert Lightfoot, congratulated the crew on a spectacular launch and then passed the phone to the crew's families.

"Hi, Wyatt. What'd you think of that rocket launch?" Bresnik asked his young son.

"It was bright and loud. And interesting."

"Well, maybe someday you'll get a chance to ride on one," Bresnik replied.

"That would be nice," Wyatt said. "I just want to tell you I love you, and we'll miss you."

After speaking with daughter Abigail, who managed a shy "hi, poppa," and his father, Albert, Bresnik thanked his wife Rebecca for "the amazing love and support you've given me the last two years to get to this point. I hope we can make you proud while I'm up here."

He then took a moment to thank the Russian engineers who assembled the Soyuz rocket and spacecraft, saying "that was the most amazing, smooth rocket ride I've ever had. I would really like to say thanks on behalf of the three of us to our Russian colleagues and our Russian partners who made such a beautiful vehicle."

Bresnik, an F/A-18 TOPGUN pilot with more than 6,000 hours flying time in high-performance aircraft, spent 10 days in space as a shuttle crew member during a 2009 space station assembly mission.

Ryazanskiy, with a doctorate in biomedicine, is the first scientist-cosmonaut to serve as a Soyuz commander. He spent 166 days aboard the station in 2013-14 and commanded one of three international crews during a 500-day simulated Mars mission in 2009. Nespoli, making his third spaceflight, has logged 174 days in orbit.

They now join Yurchikhin, Fischer and Whitson, who have had the station to themselves since June 2 when Soyuz MS-03 commander Oleg Novitskiy and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet returned to Earth. With the arrival of the Soyuz MS-05 crew, an additional USOS crew member will be available to carry out research.

The expanded Expedition 52 crew will include four astronauts assigned to the U.S. segment of the station -- Fischer, Whitson, Bresnik and Nespoli -- and two in the Russian segment -- Yurchikhin and Ryazanskiy.

The station crew normally is evenly split between the Russians and the U.S. segment, which includes astronauts representing NASA, ESA, Japan and Canada. But the Russian space agency Roscosmos recently decided to reduce its crew complement to save money and that opened up additional Soyuz seats for U.S. orbital segment (USOS) astronauts.

Climbing into daylight, the Soyuz booster shed four liquid-fueled strap-on boosters as it continued its climb to space.

NASA/Roscosmos

With the arrival of the Soyuz MS-05 crew, an additional USOS crew member will be available to carry out research.

"The big thing is we're going to have four USOS crew members, and with over 330 possible experiments, of which 85 are new to the space station, there's a ton of science for us to do," Bresnik said in a pre-launch news conference.

"And with that extra crew member, we're going to have a lot more opportunity to not only do the science, we're also going to have the opportunity to do repairs on the station," Bresnik said. "So we think the productivity of this huge laboratory ... will really go up quite a bit having a fourth crew member."

Ryazanskiy, who will join Yurchikhin for a spacewalk Aug. 17, said having only two Russian crew members aboard will require some Russian research to be carried out in their spare time, but he does not anticipate any problems.

"We will be really busy because there will only be two of us," he said. "I have a lot of science that is now going on the task list so some experiments will be done in my free time aboard the station. But overall, for life support and technical issues, two Russian crew members will be enough."

Yurchikhin, Fischer and Whitson are scheduled to return to Earth Sept. 3. They will be replaced Sept. 13 by Soyuz MS-06 commander Alexander Misurkin, NASA flight engineer Mark Vande Hei and astronaut Joe Acaba. It will be the second expedition with four USOS crew members.

Ryazanskiy, Bresnik and Nespoli will return to Earth on Dec. 14. Between now and then, the overlapping station crews will carry out multiple spacewalks, help with the departure of one Soyuz and the arrival of another and unload four cargo ships -- one Russian Progress, two SpaceX Dragons and one Orbital ATK Cygnus.

And throughout it all, the station crew will carry out a full slate of scientific research.

"I am excited about having a full complement of people up here who can really utilize this amazing laboratory," Fischer said in a recent interview with CBS News.

"This will be the first time where we have four USOS, we're have three Americans and an Italian, Paolo, working on the U.S. segment on science. Four people. That's crazy talk!" Fischer added. "I'm super excited about how much science we're going to be able to get done with all four people. So, overall, it's awesome, I cannot wait ... for the discoveries that we make together."

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Soyuz rocket carries 3-man crew to space station - CBS News

Space

Jul.28.2017 / 10:34 AM ET

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Launch day is here for three new crew members of the International Space Station, and you can watch the liftoff live right here at 11:41 a.m. EDT (the live coverage is scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m. EDT).

Aboard the Soyuz rocket will be NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, along with Russias Sergey Ryazanskiy and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, NASA said in a statement posted on its website.

The rocket will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the six-hour trip to the ISS, where the trio will be greeted by three crew members already aboard the ISS: NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fiischer and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.

The six crew members will spend more than four months aboard the ISS conducting experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science, and Earth science.

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Watch Live as New Crew Blasts Off for Space Station - NBCNews.com

After taking usersto Peru's Machu Picchu and Game of Thronesfilming locations, Google Street View has recently introduced a new feature that allows its users to explore inside the International Space Station(ISS) and to see the Earth from on high.

Among the ISS locations on offer in the new featureare the CupolaObservational Module, from where users canlook at activity outside the station, the experimentalBigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the unmanned SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule thattransports supplies to the ISS astronauts, and the US Lab Module that serves as the primary research laboratory.

Read also: Google lets you virtually explore 'Game of Thrones' filming locations

SpaceXs Dragon cargo craft is seen Feb. 23, 2017, during final approach to the International Space Station. (blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2017/02//File)

The ISS is a very interesting place with lots of high-tech equipment, Thomas Pesquet, theEuropean Space Agency (ESA)astronautwho was in charge of taking photos for the Google Street View, saidin a behind-the-scenesvideo.

[It's a very challenging task] since we dont have gravity in space, said Matthew Potter, who leads the technical photography operations for Google Street View, adding that they could not use a tripod in space, wherecamera stabilization tools were critical to their mission.

Floating 250 miles more than 400kilometers above the Earth, the ISS consists of 15 connected modules that facefour different directions in a cross-like formation. The space station serves as a scientific research hub to explore space, collect data from the atmosphere and Earth's surface,observe cyclones and other weather patterns, and conduct experiments, such as how a human body reacts tomicrogravity. (kes)

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Google Street View launches users to space station - Jakarta Post

Sonys lineup of full-frame mirrorless cameras is impressive, and have become a staple for videographers and photographers worldwide. But now, the a7S II has gone beyond just our world, capturing amazing 4K footage from outside the International Space Station.

The a7S II was mounted on the ISS on the KIBO Japanese Experiment Module created by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japans space agency, after the organization determined that it was durable and reliable enough to survive outer space conditions, including vacuum, radiation and extreme temperature swings of up to almost 400 degrees Fahrenheit depending on whether the camera is oriented towards the sun or not.

The surprising thing about the a7S IIs environmental resistance is that its basically unmodified JAXA says theres a radiator and a heater built in to its mounting hardware to help with the temperature variance, but that the cameras hardware itself is almost untouched.

JAXAs original plan was to use an a7S on the external mount, but they swapped in the a7S II in their plans in 2016 because of its ability to record 4K video internally. The high sensitivity full-frame sensor, which works great in low light situations, also makes possible excellent night shooting, whereas the system its replacing didnt work at all in nighttime conditions.

The camera will also be used to capture stills, which JAXA says will be better for applications like comparing changes in the color of oceans and forests over time because of its improved tone reproduction vs. video. But the video capture is super interesting for docking operations, or for recording mesmerizing clips like those above.

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Sony's a7S II stuns with 4K footage from outside the International Space Station - TechCrunch

Stargazers are in for a treat as the International Space Station is set to cross Lincolnshire's skies - and you don't need any equipment to see it.

The International Space Station (ISS) will be visible over Lincolnshire at various times between now and August 8 and 9.

And because of its enormous size you don't have to have a telescope to view it in the night sky as it'll be visible to the naked eye.

The ISS is more than 100m wide, over 70m long, and about 20m high. The orbital height (height above Earth) is just over 400km.

Get ready to see shooting stars! Delta Aquarid meteor shower will light up the skies this week

But you'll have to keep your eyes on the prize; the speed of orbit is so high 17,200mph that it will often only be visible for a few minutes at a time.

According to NASAs Spot The Station web site, the ISS looks like an airplane or a very bright star moving across the sky, except it doesnt have flashing lights or change direction. It will also be moving considerably faster than a typical airplane.

The station will be visible from all over Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire, including Lincoln, Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Boston, Sleaford and Grantham, within a minute of the following dates and times:

July 28: 12.18am, 10.49pm

July 29: 12.25am, 9.57pm, 11.33pm

July 30: 1.10am, 10.41pm

July 31: 12.17am, 9.49pm, 11.25pm

August 1: 10.33pm

August 2: 12.09am, 9.40pm, 11.17pm

August 3: 10.24pm

August 4: 12.02am, 9.32pm, 11.09pm

August 5: 10.17pm

August 6: 9.24pm, 11.02pm

August 7: 10.08pm

August 8: 9.16pm

The International Space Station will always start passing from a westerly direction so keep your eyes peeled for it gliding across the sky.

Sometimes a pass can last as long as five minutes, but it looks like a bright, fast-moving star so be careful not to mistake it for a passing aircraft.

It takes 90 minutes to orbit so you may be able to catch it passing more than once if you dont mind spending a couple of hours outside at night.

For more information about the ISS, visit https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/home.cfm .

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Want to see the International Space Station over Lincolnshire? Here's everything you need to know - LincolnshireLive

Photo: Steve Gonzales, Staff

NanoRacks project manager Brock Howe uses a full-scale model to demonstrate how a commercial airlock system will work.

NanoRacks project manager Brock Howe uses a full-scale model to demonstrate how a commercial airlock system will work.

Brock Howe uses a model with an action figure to demonstrate how NanoRacks' commercial airlock system will work on the International Space Station.

Brock Howe uses a model with an action figure to demonstrate how NanoRacks' commercial airlock system will work on the International Space Station.

Webster's NanoRacks expands its role in commercial space

An airlock destined for the International Space Station sat near the bottom of a 40-foot pool as astronauts hoisted bulky suits around its curvatures. NASA was testing the station's first complex fixture - an element that could one day be attached to a commercial space station - that is privately owned.

"If we're going to see an economy develop in low-Earth orbit the commercial sector has got to be able to provide and operate things like this," said Mike Read, manager of the International Space Station's commercial space utilization office.

That's the goal of Webster-based NanoRacks, which has evolved from getting experiments on the space station to developing an airlock that will help deploy satellites. Ultimately, NanoRacks hopes its roughly $12 million airlock will be detached from the government-owned space station and reattached to one that is commercially owned and operated.

"The goal of this is to continue to build the marketplace so there's more commercial users of ISS," said Brock Howe, NanoRacks' project manager for the airlock. "And then, at the point when the government is ready to retire the big space station, there are a lot of people using it that can then justify the price of having a commercial space station."

Read said the test in NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in late June was standard for any new element being attached to the space station. NASA astronauts were testing handrail placements to ensure they could maneuver around the airlock during spacewalks.

To read this article in one of Houston's most-spoken languages, click on the button below.

This is just one of many tests the airlock will undergo before May 2019 when it's scheduled to hitch a ride to the International Space Station on the SpaceX Dragon.

"It's a big step for us to turn over operation of something as critical as an airlock," Read said.

NanoRacks and NASA signed a Space Act Agreement in May 2016 to begin development of the airlock. Nine months later, NanoRacks selected Boeing to develop the critical seal that connects the airlock to the space station. This device, called a Passive Common Berthing Mechanism, is essential for pressurizing the unit.

The airlock is about 8 feet in diameter and will be five times larger than the space station's existing airlock. The existing airlock, in the Japanese Experiment Module, has a door for loading satellites and another door for ejecting them into space. NanoRacks' airlock will have only one hatch.

Astronauts will go inside the NanoRacks airlock while it's pressurized and arrange satellites. Once they leave, air is sucked out and the space station's robotic arm disconnects the airlock from the space station. The airlock is positioned away from the station, and then satellites are deployed.

This design will allow NanoRacks to deploy larger satellites or several smaller satellites simultaneously. NASA will operate the robotic arm, and NanoRacks will deploy the satellites from its office in Webster.

'Precious resources'

"One of the big savings that NASA likes a lot is it will reduce crew time," Howe said. "Crew time is one of the most precious resources they have on station."

Payloads can also be attached to the airlock's exterior to hold experiments or cameras taking pictures of Earth.

Howe expects that the airlock will be used four to six times a year, though that could change depending on demand.

"It's really going to be governed by the commercial marketplace," Howe said. "So if people want to use it, and scientists and experimenters want to use it, I think we will be able to use it more often. Because that's what ISS is trying to do. They're trying to embrace users of the space station."

Marco Caceres, director of space studies for Teal Group, said the company found "novel ways to make money in space, to make use of an incredible asset." Some people believe the space station hasn't been used to its fullest potential, and companies like NanoRacks could help change that.

Yet most commercial space efforts aren't focused on the space station, he said. Companies are more focused on launch vehicles and satellites because those are more obvious money makers. The space station could have an advantage if it provides a cheaper avenue for deploying satellites, Caceres said.

Cheaper from space

NanoRacks has found it is cheaper from the space station because it costs less to ride on a rocket taking other cargo to the space station than on a rocket being launched solely for the satellites, Howe said.

NanoRacks must have 90 percent of the airlock's design completed by late October. It has already begun fabricating some parts, but that will pick up after October. NanoRacks is considering two vendors along the East Coast, and then those pieces will be shipped to Webster for assembly in NanoRacks' clean room.

"For NanoRacks to land that deal and to be able to accomplish what they've accomplished to date speaks volumes for this area and speak volumes for the commercial space industry," said Bob Mitchell, president of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership.

Looking ahead, NanoRacks is part of a team studying if rocket upper stages could be converted into space habitats. An upper stage is part of the rocket engine that is discarded in space after all of the fuel has been used.

Using these rocket components could be a more affordable way to create a commercial space station compared with building modules on the ground and launching them into orbit.

Ultimately, Howe said, NanoRacks wants to be involved if a commercial space station comes to fruition.

"Building a commercial space station will not be easy," he said. "There's lots of challenges ahead of the team to get that done. And we will see if the space industry can rise to the occasion and make it happen."

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Webster's NanoRacks expands its role in commercial space - Houston Chronicle

Launch of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft Friday carrying three fresh crew members to the International Space Station will boost the lab's crew back to six and, most important from NASA's perspective, dramatically boost research with four crew members -- three NASA astronauts and a veteran European flier -- available to operate experiments in the American segment of the laboratory.

Soyuz MS-05 commander Sergey Ryazanskiy, NASA flight engineer Randy Bresnik and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli, are scheduled for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:41 a.m. EDT Friday (GMT-4; 9:41 p.m. local time), roughly the moment Earth's rotation carries the pad into the plane of the space station's orbit.

With a doctorate in biomedicine, Ryazanskiy spent 166 days aboard the station in 2013-14 and he is the first scientist-cosmonaut to serve as a Soyuz commander. He also commanded one of three international crews during a 500-day simulated Mars mission in 2009.

"Sergey is the first scientist-commander of the Soyuz and with his Mars experience and just the good character of the person he is, he's been an outstanding commander for us to prepare for our flight," Bresnik said.

The Soyuz MS-05 crew, left to right: European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli, commander Sergey Ryazanskiy and NASA flight engineer Randy Bresnik.

NASA

An F/A-18 TOPGUN graduate with more than 6,000 hours flying high-performance aircraft, Bresnik will serve as flight engineer in the left seat of the Soyuz during launch and landing. He spent 10 days in space as a shuttle crew member during a 2009 space station assembly mission.

In an interesting bit of trivia, Bresnik's grandfather was Amelia Earhart's photographer.

"I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Ameila Earhart," Bresnik said in a NASA interview. "It turns out my grandfather was her photographer for five years before her (ill-fated around-the-world) record attempt in 1937. He was supposed to accompany her on the flight, but in the end, she ended up taking extra fuel instead of him and his equipment.

"So that simple decision in 1937, because my father was born in 1938, meant that had he gone on that flight, I wouldn't be here today."

Filling out the Soyuz MS-05 crew is Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, making his third spaceflight. He first flew aboard the shuttle Discovery during a 2007 station assembly flight and then completed a long-term stay aboard the outpost in 2010-11, pushing his total time in space to 174 days.

"I wanted to be an astronaut since I was a kid," he said. After a long stint in the Italian army, serving as a master parachutist, jump master and special forces operator, he "eventually picked up again this childhood dream and got a degree in aerospace engineering and then worked for the European Space Agency. Then (I was) fortunate enough in 1998 to be selected as a European astronaut."

At the time of launch, the space station will be flying over the northeast border of Kazakhstan, about 1,130 miles ahead of the Soyuz. If all goes well, Ryazanskiy and Bresnik will oversee an automated four-orbit rendezvous with the laboratory, moving in for docking at the Earth-facing Rassvet port around 6 p.m.

A Russian Orthodox priest blesses the media shortly after the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft was erected on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

NASA

They will be welcomed aboard by Expedition 52 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, flight engineer Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson, NASA's most experienced astronaut with 629 days in orbit (as of Friday) during three missions, including two stints as commander.

The combined crew will include four astronauts assigned to the U.S. segment of the station -- Fischer, Whitson, Bresnik and Nespoli -- and two in the Russian segment -- Yurchikhin and Ryazanskiy.

The station crew normally is evenly split between the Russians and the U.S. segment, which includes astronauts representing NASA, ESA, Japan and Canada. But the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos recently decided to downgrade to two crew members to save money in the near term and that opened up a Soyuz seat for a USOS -- U.S. orbital segment -- astronaut.

With the arrival of the Soyuz MS-05 crew, an additional USOS crew member will be available to carry out research.

"I am excited about having a full complement of people up here who can really utilize this amazing laboratory," Fischer, who's been aboard the station since April 20, said in an interview with CBS News.

"This will be the first time where we have four USOS, we're have three Americans and an Italian, Paolo, working on the U.S. segment on science. Four people. That's crazy talk! I'm super excited about how much science we're going to be able to get done with all four people. So, overall, it's awesome, I cannot wait for them to get up here and cannot wait for the discoveries that we make together."

Nespoli, left, Ryazanskiy, center, and Bresnik make a traditional visit to Red Square in Moscow where they paid respects at the tomb of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.

NASA

Bresnik agreed, calling the expanded USOS crew "a huge improvement."

"We'll get a taste of it when we launch because Paolo Nespoli and I will be up there with (Jack) and Peggy, who've been working their tails off since June 2 when they've been by themselves (in the U.S. segment). So we'll have about five or six weeks together, the four of us, and hopefully we'll learn the ropes from them really well and then just dovetail into four crew members in increment 53.

"We don't really have an idea how to quantify that yet," he added. "Is it really just a fourth body and we're adding 25 percent more capability? Or, we're able to do all the maintenance and other stuff that we normally do and this person could be, theoretically, book-kept as all utilization. So we may double our capacity."

Ryazanskiy said having only two Russian crew members aboard will require some Russian research to be carried out in their spare time, but he does not anticipate any problems.

"We will be really busy because there will only be two of us," he said. "I have a lot of science that is now going on the task list so some experiments will be done in my free time aboard the station. But overall, for life support and technical issues, two Russian crew members will be enough."

Whitson, who holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry, was launched to the station last November and originally planned to return to Earth in early June with her Soyuz MS-03 crewmates Oleg Novitskiy and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet. But the Russian decision to reduce its crew complement left an open seat on the Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft that carried Yurchikhin and Fischer into orbit April 20.

As a result, NASA and Roscosmos agreed to extend Whitson's mission and she will return to Earth with Yurchikhin and Fischer aboard the MS-04 spacecraft on Sept. 3. The mission extension will push her total time in space to 666 days, moving her up to eighth in the world just behind Yurchikhin, who will rank seventh.

Ryazanskiy, Bresnik and Nespoli face an intense first few weeks aboard the station with a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship scheduled to arrive in mid August, a spacewalk by Yurchikhin and Ryazanskiy on Aug. 17, plans to photograph the Aug. 21 solar eclipse from orbit, the departure of Yurchikhin and his crewmates Sept. 3 and the arrival of a fresh crew -- one Russian and two Americans -- on Sept. 13.

Ryazanskiy, Bresnik and Nespoli are scheduled to return to Earth Dec. 14. They will be replaced Dec. 27 by another crew made up of one Russian and two Americans.

Bresnik, serving as the Soyuz flight engineer, during simulator training at Star City near Moscow. Bresnik has more than 6,000 hours flying time in a variety of high-performance aircraft and logged 10 days in space during a 2009 shuttle mission.

NASA

The solar eclipse is generating widespread interest, the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 99 years. Bresnik said the station crew will be able to monitor the eclipse over three orbits and plans to downlink video and still images.

"We'll have, actually, three passes," Bresnik told CBS News in a pre-launch interview from Moscow. "The first one ... is when we're over the southern Pacific, and we'll be on the lookout. Then on the second pass, we (are) over the top of Lake Huron when we'll be able to see it the best. We'll be there with video cameras and our big telephoto lenses to take pictures.

"And then, we'll be able to see it on a third orbit, out over the Atlantic Ocean, where we'll have about an 85 percent obscuration of the sun. We've got special filters for the cameras to take those pictures. We'll share it right away with everybody."

For his part, Ryazanskiy said he is looking forward taking photos in general and sharing them via social media.

"I really like to make photos," he told reporters earlier this year. "From a previous mission, I (took) more than 65,000 photos. Nowadays, I'm working on a book with photos and stories. Personally, I prefer Instagram because it's easier to share your visual experiences. Now we have so many different social media channels, I will try to use the most popular."

He said his sister will help him get his pictures on line.

"It's really important and really necessary to try to share all these wonderful things you can see from above," he said. "Sometimes, it's impossible even with photos because it's much more beautiful or three dimensional. But still, we should try, we should try to share our experience with other people who maybe in the future will be able to fly in space."

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Russian Soyuz, with 3-man crew, set for Friday trip to space station - CBS News

Space nerds around the world rejoiced a few days ago, when it was announced that Google Street View had found its way into the International Space Station. You can travel through each of the 15 connected modules that compose the station, carefully examining everything you glide past. Its a great way to kill some time, and while doing our own exploring we (of course) got hung up on a food stash, which is located in Node 3 (Tranquility). You can see it for yourself here, but heres what we were able to make out onboard:

Astronauts: They crave bold flavors, just like us!

Google has also been thoughtful enough to provide descriptions of a lot of the things that you pass along the way; For what its worth, the items are velcroed onto the galley table, which is big enough for six astronauts and was designed by high school students. And what looks like a metal suitcase next to the table is a microwave/forced air convection oven that serves as a food warmer.

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There's a Bottle of Sriracha Onboard the International Space Station - The Daily Meal

KEEN-eyed Bromsgrove, Rubery and South Birmingham residents may spot something unusual in the skies over the coming days as the International Space Station will be visible from the town.

No equipment is needed to see the Space Station just a clear night and a good pair of eyes at the right time.

The space station looks like an aeroplane or a very bright star moving across the sky, although it doesnt have flashing lights or change direction.

It will also be moving considerably faster than a typical plane, which generally fly at around 600 miles per hour, while the space station flies at 17,500 miles per hour).

The Space Station should be visible for around six minutes tonight (Thursday, July 27) at around 10.05pm.

It should also be visible at around 10.49pm on Friday (July 28). 9.57pm on Saturday and 10.41pm on Sunday.

Visit https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings for more information.

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International Space Station set to be visible from Bromsgrove and Rubery tonight - Bromsgrove Standard

We have another very nice flyover of the International Space Station tonight here in West Michigan at 9:48 pm. Look to the SW and the Space Station will appear just a little above the horizon. Itll climb to high in the sky (56 degrees) and then move to the east-northeast, where it will fade into the Earths shadow as it gets close to the horizon. The Space Station should be visible for nearly six minutes and skies should be clear to partly cloudy. Jupiter is the bright star in the southwest in the early evening sky and well have a crescent moon for a little while after sunset before it sets.

Check out the schedule at flyovers of the Intl. Space Station in West Michigan at this link. Heres a link to a map that shows where the space station is right now (takes a little while to open the page). Heres the NASA Intl. Space Station webpagewith the position of the sun. The Space Station circles the globe about every 93 minutes. Its about the size of a football field and flies about 220 miles above the ground, about the distance between Grand Rapids and Indianapolis.

Check out http://www.spaceweather.com for details on auroras, the number of sunspots, asteroid approaches and more. Sky and Telescopes Sky at a Glance will show you the current position of the moon and planets. You can also get the latest on West Michigan astronomical events from the Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Assn.

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Flyover of the Intl. Space Station Tues. Evening - WOODTV.com (blog)

Stargazers will be in for a treat as they will be able to glimpse the International Space Station in the night sky.

People in Hull will be able to see the incredible space station from this week, with bright passes by the station visible in the UK until August 9.

The best part is you wont even need any special equipment to see it overhead amongst the stars.

The ISS is the biggest space station and laboratory ever built, which means that at certain times it can even be visible with the naked eye.

Space enthusiasts will be able to easily spot the station as it orbits the Earth travelling at 175,00mph at an altitude of roughly 200 miles.

People should be able to see the station on numerous occasions this week.

These are brightest overhead passes by the station although passes will be fainter by August 9.

Passes will take place at the following dates and times:

There may also be other objects visible in the sky too while you are watching, like Perseid Meteors or satellites.

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The International Space Station will always start passing from a westerly direction so keep your eyes peeled for it gliding across the sky.

Sometimes a pass can last as long as five minutes, but it looks like a bright, fast-moving star so be careful not to mistake it for a passing aircraft.

It takes 90 minutes to orbit so you may be able to catch it passing more than once if you dont mind spending a couple of hours outside at night.

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How to see the International Space Station over Hull this week - Hull Daily Mail

Wednesday evening should be the best time of the week for getting a look at the International Space Station over Richmond.

The station should be visible starting at 8:56 p.m. as a bright dot above the west-southwest horizon, between Jupiter and the setting crescent moon. It will peak three minutes later as it crosses through the Ursa Major constellation, or Big Dipper, and set in the northeast sky by 9:02 p.m.

Though the sky may feature a few clouds, it ought to be clear enough to catch the bright reflection of the sun by then, slightly below our horizon off the stations solar panels.

There are a few other opportunities to spot the station this week, but this one will be the highest and brightest for our area until the middle of August.

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Wednesday evening is a good opportunity to watch the International Space Station over Richmond - Richmond.com

Forget views of side streets and poorly parked cars why not explore the International Space Station (ISS) instead? Earlier this week Google Maps released its first-ever Street View in space, and now, Earthlings can virtually navigate through astronauts home away from home. Because no one could drive a van and camera around the ISS, Thomas Pesquet, a European Space Agency astronaut, collaborated with NASA and Google to take images with DSLR cameras already aboard the craft. The tunnel-like interior is filled with wall-to-wall cables and equipment, so navigation is trickier than on Earth. But a scattering of helpful tags identify locations and equipment that people unfamiliar with astronaut life might not recognize. Yours truly ended up in a bathroom on one of her first navigational clicks, but maybe you will have better luck.

If the blurbs of information only increase your curiosity about daily life on the ISS, NASA astronaut Suni Williams explains all about sleeping, eating and manipulating that strange toilet in this video from 2014, below. Pair her explanations with the immersive Street View and maybe you will feel like an astronaut yourself.

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Ground Control to Major Google: Space Station Street View Is Here - Scientific American

Aspiring astronauts can now pretend to float on the International Space Station (ISS), thanks to Google. The company worked with astronauts on the orbiting complex to provide a Google Street View of the space station, from its science labs to its beautiful Earth-facing Cupola window.

Thomas Pesquet, a European Space Agency astronaut who helped collect the images earlier this year, said in a blog post that the experience of capturing the tour "describes the feeling of being in space" better than words or a picture can. But there were limitations to collecting the data. For one, astronauts float in space, so the imagery of the ISS couldn't be captured the same way as other Google Street View locations.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama worked with Google to create a "gravity-free method of collecting the imagery," Pesquet said in the blog post. These methods included using DSLR cameras and other equipment already available at the space station. An extended video provides an additional look at how the view came together. (Pesquet didn't specify the other equipment in the blog post.) [The International Space Station: Inside and Out (Infographic)]

"I collected still photos in space, that were sent down to Earth where they were stitched together to create panoramic 360 degree imagery of the ISS," Pesquet wrote.

"We did a lot of troubleshooting before collecting the final imagery that you see today in Street View," he added.

"The ISS has technical equipment on all surfaces, with lots of cables and a complicated layout with modules shooting off in all directions left, right, up, down," Pesquet wrote. "And it's a busy place, with six crew members [at the time] carrying out research and maintenance activities 12 hours a day. There are a lot of obstacles up there, and we had limited time to capture the imagery, so we had to be confident that our approach would work."

The International Space Station's U.S. laboratory module as seen through Google Street View.

The tour is the first Google Street View captured in space, and it features annotations that pop up to explain additional information about each module, such as how astronauts stay physically fit or the kinds of food they eat.

You can read the entire blog post here: https://www.blog.google/products/maps/welcome-outer-space-view/ and take a virtual tour of the International Space Station here in Google Street View: https://www.google.com/streetview/#international-space-station/

The International Space Station's Cupola observation module as seen through Google Street View.

The ISS has been occupied continuously since November 2000. It generally houses three to six crewmembers, who split their days between science and maintenance activities. Crewmembers currently "commute" to space on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, but within the next few years, commercial spacecraft from SpaceX and Boeing will ferry astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle's retirement in 2011.

Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Explore the International Space Station with Google Street View - Space.com

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station may have the best windows for viewing theGreat American Eclipseas they photograph and record Augusts astronomical event during three consecutive orbits.

Soaring 255 miles above, the six person crew of Expedition 52 will have detailed observation objectives in place as they point cameras from the Cupolas windows while they trek across North America once every 91 minutes. They will also be the first humans to witness this solar eclipse thanks to orbital mechanics.

In May 2012, NASA astronaut Don Pettit witnessed a solar eclipse from Earth orbit. It is amazing to see an eclipse from orbit, Pettit recalled. The shadow on Earth looks just like what you see in the physics and astronomy books.

Newly released ground tracks by NASA provided to AvGeekery.com show the space stations three positions as it passes through the Moons penumbra during the midday hours ofAugust 21 the height of solar eclipse across America. Astronauts will attach special solar filters to their 400 mm and 800 mm cameras as they approach their first observations over the Pacific Ocean.

Our flight team is tracking opportunities for the astronauts on board the station to photograph both the eclipse and the Moons shadow on the planet, NASA spokesperson Dan Hout explained to this aerospace journalist from the Johnson Space Center near Houstonon Monday. With the current calculations, the station should have three passes to view the eclipse.

During the first transit across the United States, the space stations crew will experience a partial solar eclipse with only 37% of the Sun covered by the Moon at about12:41 p.m. EDT. Hout noted that as the station crosses the California coastline at this time, the eclipse will not have begun for those on Earth, however, a partial eclipse will be in progress and observed by the crew of six aboard the orbital outpost.

The stations second pass over North America will observe a greater view of a partial solar eclipse. The crew will again train cameras on a totality of 44% of Sun coverage by the Moon at2:24 p.m.

At the closest approach, ISS will be just south of Hudson Bay while the Moons umbra shadow is located in southwestern Kentucky just over 1700 km away, Hout added from his NASA office. While ISS does not pass near the location of the Moons umbra, the Moons umbra should still be easily visible near the horizon.

As the orbital laboratory sails into an orbital sunset during its third orbit of the eclipse timeline, the stations crew will witness their best viewing of the celestial ballet. As the space station passes over the central Atlantic Ocean at4:18 p.m., the crew will observe a partial solar eclipse of 85% for only seconds as their orbital velocity of 17,450 m.p.h. takes them into a golden sunset aboutfive minutes later.

This pass offers the opportunity to see the Sun with horns as it sets into the atmosphere assuming an appropriate filter is used to block the Suns brightness, said Hout poised with an orbital tracking map before him. At sunset, 27% of the Sun will be covered by the Moon.

Photographs taken from the space station will appear on NASA.gov soon after the orbital passes.

Closer to home, NASA will launch two aircraft from Ellington Field near Houston to observe the American eclipse. NASAs twin WB-57 aircraft will fly together at an altitude of 50,000 feet loaded with both visible and infrared telescopes to gather solar eclipse data during an eight minute window. The twin aircraft plan to be over the Carbondale, Illinois region during the short totality window.

The eclipse will provide a unique opportunity to study the sun, Earth, moon and their interaction because of the eclipses long path over land coast to coast, NASA spokesperson Brian Dunbar added. Scientists will be able to take ground-based and airborne observations over a period of an hour and a half to complement the wealth of data and images provided by space assets.

NASA is informing the public who plan to observe the eclipse to check the safety authenticity of glasses labeled for eclipse viewing sold online or in stores. The space agency stated this week that eclipse viewing glasses and solar viewers should have a designated ISO 12312-2 certification, and that the manufacturers name and address is printed somewhere on the product.

The space agency will providelive video streamingof the solar eclipse from earth bound NASA centers based on cloud coverage. The space stations own HD video camera may provide a rare real time view of the moons shadow.

(Charles A. Atkeison reports on aerospace and technology. Follow his updates on social media via @Military_Flight.)

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Space Station to Perform Three Orbit Chase of Solar Eclipse - Avgeekery (blog)

Lockheed Martin artist rendering of the NextSTEP habitat docked with Orion in cislunar orbit as part of a concept for the Deep Space Gateway. Orion will serve as the habitats command deck in early missions, providing critical communications, life support and navigation to guide long-duration missions. Photo: Lockheed Martin

NASA awarded Lockheed Martin a contract for the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) habitat study contract.

The plan is to put a space station near the moon as a kind of cosmic rest-stop for deep space missions to places like Mars. Its called the Deep Space Gateway and NASA asked Lockheed Martin to design a prototype at Kennedy Space Center.

Lockheed engineers are using theDonatello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), an old space shuttle cargo container that was once used to send supplies to the International Space Station.

Using recycled parts will lower the cost of the prototype, and speed up development. Making use of existing capabilities will be a guiding philosophy for Lockheed Martin to minimize development time and meet NASAs affordability goals, said Bill Pratt, Lockheed Martin NextSTEP program manager. The team will also use a mix of virtual and augmented reality to test the tech that will keep the astronauts safe.

The Deep Space Gateway will receive crews from NASAs Orion spacecraft also in development with Lockheed Martin.

Work on the prototype will last about 18 months.

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Lockheed Recycles Shuttle Parts For Deep Space Station - WMFE

Island Packet

The International Space Station visits the Lowcountry sky this week. Here's when to see it, starting Sunday Island Packet The International Space Station will be a regular visitor to the night and early morning skies of the Lowcountry in coming days. Starting Sunday evening, you will be able to see the station streak across the sky for 6 minutes starting at 9:55 p.m ...

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The International Space Station visits the Lowcountry sky this week. Here's when to see it, starting Sunday - Island Packet

Astronaut Jerry Linenger has looked down upon Earth from space, but as he prepared to speak to the crowd at Nerd Nite, NatGeos annual event at Comic-Con 2017, he saw something hed likely never seen before.

A mermaid. With a trident. Sitting up front to watch his talk.

Perhaps due to the incredible things Linegers done as an astronaut who lived on the Mir space station for nearly 5 months and survived a fire on it, Linenger took everything the loud music, swirling planetary lightshow and costumed crowd in stride.

I learned a lot about living in isolation and being off the planet removed from mankind, said Lineger, who spent 2 years prior to his time on Mir living in Russia learning the language before going up.

There were other challenges, too.

I had a little one-and-a-half-year-old and my wife was pregnant. We had the worst fire ever in an orbiting spacecraft, and during that fire my survival instinct kicked in, Lineger said, adding that during the fire he was determined he would get home to his son. That parental instinct, survival of the species, kicked in.

Lineger was on hand, along with JPLs Bobak Ferdowsi and Mallory Lefland and fellow astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, to talk about NatGeos series Mars and One Blue Planet while guests ate, listened to a DJ and watched a dancer in a flight suit perform inside a clear inflated ball.

Hoffman, an astronomer and MIT professor who repaired the Hubble Telescope during one of his five Shuttle flights, spoke to the crowd about the elements of a Mars mission.

Afterward Hoffman gave a short interview in which he said what had been most memorable about his work in space: Fixing the Hubble.

That was incredibly satisfying, because that was such a complicated mission he said. Many people thought it was too much, but we actually did it. And of course it worked.

Did he miss anything during his time in space? Since he was busy and the shuttle missions werent longer than a few weeks, he says he didnt really miss the Earth. Other than wanting to see his family and friends, there was only one thing he could think of hed missed.

To munch down on a nice, crunchy salad, he said. All the space food is really mushy.

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Astronaut describes surviving fire on the space station during Comic-Con 2017's NatGeo Nerd Nite - OCRegister

TOKYO -- Japanese astronauts on the International Space Station have been joined by a floating camera drone developed by the space agency as an important -- and cute -- partner for the crew.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) started building the JEM Internal Ball Camera, or Int-Ball, in June 2016. The robot was launched into space this past June 4 and now operates in the Japanese Experiment Module as the first-ever working drone on board a spacecraft, according to JAXA.

The Int-Ball measures less than 15cm in diameter -- around the size of a large grapefruit -- thanks to a miniaturized control module with built-in sensors developed by the agency. Bursts of air from fans propel it through the zero-gravity environment, either autonomously or via commands from an earthbound operator.

A central camera sits like a nose between LED "eyes" that light up when images are being shot or an error is encountered. This is meant to make it easy to tell which way the Int-Ball is facing, JAXA says. The drone's internal components and exterior casing were all produced via 3-D printing.

The lack of gravity means that the Int-Ball can get by without the bulky motors needed by drones back home. Instead, stability is key -- if the camera-bot can be blown around by small air currents, its images could turn out blurry or it could get in the crew's way in the narrow spaces where they operate. The Int-Ball's control module allows for the fine control over the propulsion fans needed for this purpose.

The drone's sole job for now is taking pictures and video of astronauts' experiments and onboard equipment, which are sent to Earth in real time. Astronauts typically use hand-held cameras for photography -- a task that eats up 10% of their work time, according to JAXA. Having the Int-Ball take on some of this will save time and effort. The goal is to spare the human crew from having to spend any time on photography.

JAXA is thinking about expanding the Int-Ball's duties to include such tasks as managing supply inventories and surveying onboard problems. Adding voice recognition would let nearby crew members give commands. The little ball could become a trusty astronaut's companion like the "Gundam" science fiction franchise's Haro spherical robot, to which the Int-Ball bears a striking resemblance.

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Japanese robotic camera welcomed aboard space station - Nikkei Asian Review

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS)

The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth and you can see it fly over Asheville--if you know where and when to look.

At 10:48 p.m. on Saturday, July 22, 2017 the ISS will fly over Asheville and be visible as it crosses overhead for about six minutes. (If you're seeing this story ahead of the flyover, a good way to remember to watch the ISS is to set an alarm on your cell phone, if you have one)

If skies are clear in your area, look west-southwest about 10:48 p.m., and wait for the ISS to become visible over the horizon. It will look like a bright, fast-moving star, and will travel overhead and move out of sight into the north-northeast.

The ISS travels at about 17,150 mph as it zooms by, and you can view how many people are aboard it right here.

You can track where the ISS is here.

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LOOK UP! The International Space Station flies over Asheville - WLOS