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ISS Tour |international space station |HD information about |really nice Tour - Video

New crew arrives at International Space Station | Fox News

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Published November 24, 2014

November 24, 2014: The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-15M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts from Russia, the United States and Italy docked Monday with the International Space Station, less than six hours after launching from Russia's manned space facility in Kazakhstan.

The Russian capsule roared into the pre-dawn darkness just after 3 a.m. Monday (4:00 p.m. EST Sunday) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome with Russian Anton Shkaplerov, NASA's Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy aboard.

The craft docked with the space station after a trip lasting five hours and 48 minutes, which the NASA television commentator noted was roughly the time it takes to drive from NASA headquarters in Houston, Texas, to New Orleans, Louisiana.

The three astronauts join three others already aboard the orbiting station, including Russian Elena Serova. Cristoforetti's arrival made it the second time in the station's 16-year history that two women have been aboard on long-term missions.

Shkaplerov, Virts and Cristoforetti will remain aboard the station until mid-May. The current crew of NASA's Barry Wilmore, Russian Alexander Samokutyaev and Serova will return to Earth in early March.

Since the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet in 2011, Russian Soyuz spacecraft have served as the only means to ferry crew to and from the space outpost.

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New crew arrives at International Space Station | Fox News

Thanksgiving in space: What's on the menu?

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What's Thanksgiving like in space?

In a sense, not too different from the first Thanksgivings in America, says NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore, commander of Expedition 42 aboard the International Space Station.

After all, the English settlers of Plymouth Colony were pioneers in an unknown land, crossing vast oceans to explore new worlds not unlike astronauts of today.

"The first thing that comes to mind is going all the way back to those early settlers when they endured some really rough times, crossing the ocean and getting started in an unknown land," Wilmore said in a recorded message from aboard the International Space Station.

Of course, not everything is the same. While early settlers may have feasted on wild fowl, venison, corn, beans, and mussels, and modern Thanksgiving tables aren't complete without turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes, astronauts aboard the space station will be cutting open bags of freeze-dried, irradiated, and thermostabilized foods on Thursday.

What's on the space station's menu this Thanksgiving?

According to NASA, the meal will include smoked turkey, candied yams and green beans and mushrooms. The meal also will feature NASAs own freeze-dried cornbread dressing just add water. Dessert features thermostabilized cherry-blueberry cobbler.

Each food item comes in its own vacuum-packed single-serve packet, so astronauts simply cut open the packet and eat right out of it, no preparation or cleanup necessary.

Thanksgiving is often a work day in outer space, but astronauts don't seem to mind.

"People often ask us what it's like to be onboard ISS for the holidays," NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins said in a 2013 Thanksgiving video beamed down from the station. "Though we miss our families, it's great to be in space. As astronauts, this is what we train for and this is where we want to be."

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Thanksgiving in space: What's on the menu?

Thanksgiving in space: What's on the menu? (+video)

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What's Thanksgiving like in space?

In a sense, not too different from the first Thanksgivings in America, says NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore, commander of Expedition 42 aboard the International Space Station.

After all, the English settlers of Plymouth Colony were pioneers in an unknown land, crossing vast oceans to explore new worlds not unlike astronauts of today.

"The first thing that comes to mind is going all the way back to those early settlers when they endured some really rough times, crossing the ocean and getting started in an unknown land," Wilmore said in a recorded message from aboard the International Space Station.

Of course, not everything is the same. While early settlers may have feasted on wild fowl, venison, corn, beans, and mussels, and modern Thanksgiving tables aren't complete without turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes, astronauts aboard the space station will be cutting open bags of freeze-dried, irradiated, and thermostabilized foods on Thursday.

What's on the space station's menu this Thanksgiving?

According to NASA, the meal will include smoked turkey, candied yams and green beans and mushrooms. The meal also will feature NASAs own freeze-dried cornbread dressing just add water. Dessert features thermostabilized cherry-blueberry cobbler.

Each food item comes in its own vacuum-packed single-serve packet, so astronauts simply cut open the packet and eat right out of it, no preparation or cleanup necessary.

Thanksgiving is often a work day in outer space, but astronauts don't seem to mind.

"People often ask us what it's like to be onboard ISS for the holidays," NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins said in a 2013 Thanksgiving video beamed down from the station. "Though we miss our families, it's great to be in space. As astronauts, this is what we train for and this is where we want to be."

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Thanksgiving in space: What's on the menu? (+video)

Thanksgiving meals in space

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By Calla Cofield

Caption: Cmdr. Barry "Butch" Wilmore holds up freeze-dried cornbread stuffing one of the Thanksgiving food items he and the rest of the International Space Station crew will enjoy this week.(NASA)

A spread of Thanksgiving dishes aboard the International Space Station in 2013.(NASA)

Like most Americans back on the ground, astronauts aboard the International Space Station will celebrate Thanksgiving with a feast: NASA food scientists have created zero-g versions of classic Thanksgiving dishes for this week's celebration.

The American astronauts currently living on the orbiting laboratory 250 miles above Earth's surface commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and flight engineer Terry Virts as well as Italian-born flight engineer Samantha Cristoforetti, will get a day off this Thursday (Nov. 27) to celebrate Thanksgiving. (Watch Wilmore deliver a Thanksgiving greeting in this video.) At mealtime, they'll gather for some "traditional" Turkey Day fare in zero-g form, of course.

The in-flight menu includes smoked turkey, candied yams, green beans and mushrooms, cornbread stuffing and cherry-blueberry cobbler. In addition, the crewmembers may enjoy some personal Thanksgiving favorites. [Space Food Photos: What Astronauts Eat in Orbit]

"I'm from Tennessee, so I grew up drinking sweet tea so I've got a little sweet tea as well," Wilmore said in his Thanksgiving video. "So, we're going to have all of that up here and try to share in the spirit of the season."

The astronauts will likely share the meal with their newly arrivedRussian shipmates, flight engineers Alexander Samokutyaev, Anton Shkaplerov and Elena Serova, who got to the station late Sunday (Nov. 23). The Russians do not have the day off, but crewmembers dine together most days. The orbiting laboratory frequently hosts an international crew, and astronauts generally join in the celebrations of their crewmates.

Food aboard theInternational Space Stationis either freeze-dried or thermostabilized (a process similar to canning, but with the food packed in pouches), so it has a long shelf life and can be stored without refrigeration. There are no microwaves or ovens on board the station, so food is heated using warm water. Such storage methods do not work well with all foods, so it can be a challenge to recreate specific dishes.

One Thanksgiving staple, sweet potatoes, may one day be grown in space, NASA officials said.Deep-space missions to Mars, or even more distant destinations, will likely require astronauts to grow their own food. According to NASA, sweet potatoes could be an ideal crop for these missions: They would provide astronauts with energy (from carbohydrates) and beta-carotene, they can adapt to a controlled environment with artificial sunlight, and in addition to the tuber itself, the side shoots from the potato are also edible.

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Thanksgiving meals in space

First 3D printer in space makes debut creation

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International Space Station Commander Barry Butch Wilmore holds up the first object made in space with additive manufacturing or 3-D printing. Wilmore installed the printer on Nov. 17, 2014, and helped crews on the ground with the first print on Nov. 25, 2014. NASA

The first 3D printer in space has popped out its first creation -- a replacement part for the first 3D printer in space.

The 3D printer, delivered to the International Space Station two months ago, made a sample faceplate for the print head casing.

"We chose this part to print first because, after all, if we are going to have 3D printers make spare and replacement parts for critical items in space, we have to be able to make spare parts for the printers," project manager Niki Werkheiser said. "If a printer is critical for explorers, it must be capable of replicating its own parts, so that it can keep working during longer journeys to places like Mars or an asteroid. Ultimately, one day, a printer may even be able to print another printer."

Using data from calibration tests performed last week, controllers sent print instructions from the ground to the ISS. Space station commander Butch Wilmore removed the small plastic creation from the printer Tuesday, a day after its manufacture.

18 Photos

American astronaut Reid Wiseman tweets breathtaking photos from the International Space Station

Some of the plastic piece stuck to the print tray, said NASA spokesman Dan Huot. He noted it's part of the learning process and will be further investigated.

"This is the first time we've ever used a 3D printer in space, and we are learning, even from these initial operations," Werkheiser said. "As we print more parts we'll be able to learn whether some of the effects we are seeing are caused by microgravity or just part of the normal fine-tuning process for printing. When we get the parts back on Earth, we'll be able to do a more detailed analysis to find out how they compare to parts printed on Earth."

About 20 objects will be printed in the next few weeks, all for return to Earth for analysis, NASA said. The space agency hopes to one day use 3D printing to make parts for broken equipment in space - "an on-demand machine shop," according to Werkheiser.

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First 3D printer in space makes debut creation

ISS Astronauts 3D Print The First Spare Part In Space

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The International Space Stations crew has successfully manufactured the first 3D object in space, a landmark that could pave the way for long-term space exploration.

Carting a 3D printer all the way into space might seem like a bit of a gimmick, but the ability to create objects in space could revolutionise space travel. Instead of carrying spare parts for every vital bit of equipment on the astronauts spacecraft, they could install a 3D printer and raw materials and run off whatever piece of hardware they need.

This first print is the initial step toward providing an on-demand machine shop capability away from Earth, said Niki Werkheiser, project manager for the International Space Station 3-D Printer at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Centre. The space station is the only laboratory where we can fully test this technology in space.

International Space Station Commander Barry Butch Wilmore holds up the first object made in space with additive manufacturing or 3-D printing. (Credit: NASA)

Current expedition commander Barry Butch Wilson of NASA installed the device on the ISS ISS on November 17 and conducted the first calibration test print. After beaming the results back home, the ground control team sent up some instructions to realign the printer for a second test on November 20.

The printer was ready to go on November 24, when ground controllers sent the printer the command for the first part the faceplate of the extruders casing a replacement part for itself!

The 3D gadget uses additive manufacturing to heat a relatively low temperature plastic filament and then extrude it layer by layer to build up the part defined in the design file.

When Wilmore went to pick the part up yesterday, he found that it had rather stuck on the tray a bit harder than the team were hoping, which might indicate that layer bonding is different in microgravity than here on Earth.

, Werkheiser said.

As we print more parts well be able to learn whether some of the effects we are seeing are caused by microgravity or just part of the normal fine-tuning process for printing. When we get the parts back on Earth, well be able to do a more detailed analysis to find out how they compare to parts printed on Earth.

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ISS Astronauts 3D Print The First Spare Part In Space

3-D Printer in Space Makes First Object: A Spare Part

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After a series of calibration tests, the first 3-D printer to fly to outer space has manufactured its first potentially useful object on the International Space Station: a replacement faceplate for its print head casing.

"An astronaut might be installing it on the printer," said Aaron Kemmer, the chief executive officer of Made In Space, which built the 3-D printer for NASA's use.

The 9.5-inch-wide contraption was delivered to the space station by a robotic SpaceX Dragon cargo ship in September, and NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore set it up inside the station's experimental glovebox a week ago.

NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, the International Space Station's commander, holds up the first 3-D-printed part made in space. It's a replacement print head faceplate, which holds internal wiring in place within the 3-D printer's extruder. The faceplate, which bears the logos for Made in Space and NASA, measures roughly 3 by 1.5 inches (7.6 by 3.8 centimeters) with a thickness of a quarter-inch (6 millimeters).

Since then, the crew has been printing out plastic test patterns, or "coupons," to check how the machine works in zero gravity. "Everything worked exactly as planned, maybe a little better than planned," Kemmer told NBC News. He said only two calibration passes were needed in advance of the first honest-to-goodness print job, which finished up at 4:28 p.m. ET Monday and was pulled out of the box early Tuesday.

"It's not only the first part printed in space, it's really the first object truly manufactured off planet Earth," Kemmer said. "Where there was not an object before, we essentially 'teleported' an object by sending the bits and having it made on the printer. It's a big milestone, not only for NASA and Made In Space, but for humanity as a whole."

Made In Space's 3-D printer is similar to the earthly variety: A thin filament of ABS plastic is fed through the machine, melted and then extruded through the print head to build up the desired object, layer by thin layer. Over the course of hours, the printer's computer program controls precisely where the squirts of plastic are directed.

On Earth, 3-D printers can make toys and tchotchkes, or plastic pistols and prosthetics. In space, astronauts may someday count on 3-D printers to make tools or spare parts from standard-issue feedstock, rather than having to rely on a stockpile of hardware flown up from Earth at a cost of $10,000 a pound. That capability will be particularly important for trips to Mars because in deep space, no one can point you to a hardware store.

However, the space environment poses challenges for 3-D printing technology. Does the machine work in weightlessness the way it does in Earth's gravity? Can the plastic be built up into predictable structures? How easy is it to remove the finished part?

NASA reported that the replacement faceplate adhered more strongly to the machine's print tray than anticipated, "which could mean layer bonding is different in microgravity, a question the team will investigate as future parts are printed."

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3-D Printer in Space Makes First Object: A Spare Part

Red Sox finalize agreement with Sandoval

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BOSTON (AP) Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez spent the last two seasons as NL West rivals. Now they're teammates in Boston, the result of a $183 million spending spree the Red Sox are hoping will lift them out of the AL East cellar.

"It's exciting for me to be with Hanley and David Ortiz," Sandoval said Tuesday at Fenway Park after finishing up a five-year, $95 million contract that adds him to a lineup he called "The Three Amigos."

About five hours later, the Red Sox completed their day-night news conference doubleheader by announcing Ramirez's four-year deal, which is worth $88 million. A former Red Sox prospect, Ramirez was traded to the Marlins nine Thanksgivings ago in a deal that brought Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett to Boston.

"Why not go back where you belong?" Ramirez said. "It worked out for the both of us: You guys won a couple of world championships. I haven't won any, but that's what I'm here for."

Sandoval helped the Giants win three titles, earning the World Series MVP in 2012 and the nickname "Kung Fu Panda" that helped cement him as a fan favorite. He thanked the Giants for bringing him up as a big leaguer and Giants' fans for their support.

"I want a new challenge. I need a new challenge," he said at his afternoon news conference. "I know that I had a great career in San Francisco. But I'm going to have a new one here."

Sandoval helps fill a hole in the Red Sox lineup for a third baseman and a left-handed bat. Ramirez, who played shortstop and a little third base with the Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers, is expected to move to left field.

"You're always trying to get a sense of where they might fit in," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "We're not even at Thanksgiving yet. The potential for some other additions might exist."

Sandoval's deal includes a team option for 2020 and Ramirez's contract has a vesting option for 2019.

A 28-year-old Venezuelan listed at 5-foot-11 and 248 pounds, Sandoval was seen as a potential replacement at designated hitter when Ortiz retires. But Sandoval said he plans to manage his weight so he can remain in the field.

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Red Sox finalize agreement with Sandoval