Monthly Archives: June 2021

Two astronauts will attempt to complete the installation of a new solar array on the International Space Station today (June 20) after running out of time last week and you can watch it live here.

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet, from the European Space Agency, will exit the Quest airlock around 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), if the extravehicular activity preps go to plan. You can watch the spacewalk live here in the window above, courtesy of NASA TV, or directly via the agency's website.

On Wednesday (June 16), Kimbrough and Pesquet partially installed the first of six new solar arrays on the space station, but some technical issues and problems with the equipment delayed their attempts to complete the work.

Pesquet, who will be spacewalking for the fourth time, will be wearing the spacesuit with red stripes on it to designate him as lead spacewalker, known as extravehicular crewmember 1 (EV1). Kimbrough, wearing a plain white spacesuit as EV2, will be on his eighth spacewalk, according to NASA.

It will be their fourth spacewalk together; the pair took two spacewalks together duringExpedition 50, in 2017. They are currently part of the station's Expedition 65 crew.

Related: Spacewalking astronauts prepare International Space Station for new solar arrays

"Space is hard ... on our spacewalk, we encountered several issues that the entire team worked through incredibly well," Kimbrough said on Twitter on Thursday (June 17).

The spacewalk is expected to troubleshoot the installation of the first of the planned ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSA) in front of a 20-year-old array located on the far end of the left side of the space station's backbone truss. If there's time, the astronauts will also deploy a second iROSA to augment the P6/4B solar array.

NASA is working on the spacewalks to boost the station's power system, after a more than four-year effort to put in newer and more efficient batteries on the ISS. The eight solar wings had an original design life of 15 years and are showing signs of degraded production of power after exceeding their planned time in orbit.

The newer solar arrays, made by Boeing and arriving at the ISS on a SpaceX Dragon June 5, are designed to deploy in front of the older ones. Once complete, electricity supply on the space station will be boosted by 20% to 30%.

NASA Expedition 65 astronauts Megan McArthur and Mark Vande Hei will support the spacewalkers from inside the space station, while a socially distanced team at NASA Mission Control in Houston will also assist the crew.

NASA says the spacewalk will be the 240th in support of station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Go here to read the rest:
Astronauts will install a new solar array on the International Space Station in a spacewalk today. Here's how to watch. - Space.com

Boeings Starliner spacecraft is prepared for launch on the Orbital Flight Test-2, or OFT-2, mission. Credit: Boeing

Boeing finished loading hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide maneuvering propellants over the weekend into the companys second space-rated Starliner capsule at the Kennedy Space Center, days after stacking of its Atlas 5 launcher began a few miles away at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The capsule is scheduled to launch July 30 at 2:53 p.m. EDT (1853 GMT) on a test flight to the space station. If all goes according to plan, it will clear the way for Boeing to carry astronauts to the station, possibly before the end of this year.

That will be welcome news to NASA, which has funded the Starliner spacecrafts development through its a commercial crew program in a cost-sharing arrangement with Boeing. NASAs commercial crew contracts with Boeing since 2010 are valued at more than $5 billion.

NASA has a similar set of contracts with SpaceX valued at more than $3 billion for development of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. The contracts for both companies included a minimum of six operational crew rotation flights to the International Space Station.

Boeing appeared on track to launch its first Starliner crew mission in 2020, but the Starliners first unpiloted test flight in December 2019 ended prematurely without docking with the space station. Boeing and NASA officials blamed the botched test flight on software issues, including amission elapsed timer clock that was incorrectly set before launch.

The problem caused the spacecrafts computer to think it was in a different flight phase after deployment from the Atlas 5 rocket in orbit, causing the to capsule fire thrusters and burntoo much propellant.The higher-than-expected fuel usage prevented the Starliner spacecraft from docking with the space station.

Ground teams uncovered another software coding error that could have caused the spacecrafts service module to collide with the crew module after the two elements separated just before re-entry. During certain parts of the shortened two-day mission, there were also difficulties establishing a stable communications link between the Starliner spacecraft and NASAs network of tracking and data relay satellites.

Despite the problems, the capsule returned to Earth for a parachute-assisted, airbag-cushioned landing at White Sands Space Harbor, New Mexico.

Boeing is now refurbishing that capsule for the Starliner Crew Flight Test. But first, Boeing and NASA managers agreed to launch a second Orbital Flight Test, a mission called OFT-2, to wring out the spacecrafts software and complete the demonstration tasks left unaccomplished by the OFT-1 mission in 2019.

A second Starliner crew module will fly on the OFT-2 mission. Once it is back on Earth, Boeing will refurbish the capsule for future crew missions. Every Starliner mission will feature a new service module, which burns up during re-entry.

But the OFT-2 mission has to well before Boeing and NASA can finalize a schedule for the Crew Flight Test.

Boeing said last week that engineers have closed out all recommendations from a joint NASA-Boeing independent review team set up to investigate the problems on the OFT-1 mission. The review team issued 80 recommendations, including more thorough integrated software testing and mission simulations, process improvements, crew module communication system improvements, and organizational changes.

Boeing has implemented all recommendations, even those that were not mandatory, ahead of Starliners upcoming flight, the company said in a statement.

Earlier this year, Boeing completed an end-to-end mission simulation in the companysAvionics and Software Integration Lab in Houston. The test combined flight hardware and the final version of the spacecrafts flight software.

The end-to-end rehearsal was not performed to verify software code before the OFT-1 mission in 2019.

I am extremely proud of the NASA and Boeing Starliner teams as they methodically work toward the OFT-2 mission next month with final checks of the crew module and service module hardware and software as we prepare for this important uncrewed test mission, said Steve Stich, manager of NASAs commercial crew program.

Closing all of the independent review team findings for the software and communications systems is a huge milestone for the commercial crew program and included many long hours of testing and reviews by our dedicated Boeing and NASA teams during this Covid-19 pandemic, Stich said in a statement.

In parallel with the software testing, Boeing technicians at the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center have finished the bulk of the preparations on the spacecraft for the OFT-2 mission.

In January, Boeing mated the crew module and service module inside the processing facility, a former space shuttle hangar.

A Boeing spokesperson said Monday that the crew and service modules have been fully loaded with their mix of hypergolic propellants, which will feed the spacecrafts thrusters for maneuvers to rendezvous with the space station and the de-orbit burn at the end of the mission.

United Launch Alliance, a 50-50 joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is the launch provider for Starliner missions. On June 17, ULA raised the first stage of the Atlas 5 rocket for the OFT-2 mission on its launch platform inside the Vertical Integration Facility near pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

ULA planned to install two strap-on solid rocket boosters and a dual-engine Centaur upper stage on the Atlas 5 rocket, setting the stage for delivery of the Starliner spacecraft to the VIF in mid-July.There will be no pre-launch fueling rehearsal on the Atlas 5 rocket before the OFT-2 mission.

In the weeks ahead, mission control teams in Florida and Texas will continue conducting simulated mission dress rehearsals for the uncrewed OFT-2 and follow-on crewed missions. Starliners landing and recovery teams also will perform an on-site checkout of one of the vehicles landing zones, Boeing said in a statement.

Technicians also loaded cargo into the Starliners pressurized crew module, which will fly with an instrumented test dummy in one of its seats. The OFT-2 mission will deliver around 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of cargo and crew supplies to the space station.

Assuming the mission launches July 30, the Starliner spacecraft is scheduled to dock July 31 with the forward port of the space stations Harmony module.

In late July, before the Starliners arrival, four of the space stations seven crew members will strap into their SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship for a relocation from thee forward docking port to an upper port on the Harmony module. That will clear the way for the Starliners docking.

Boeing said the OFT-2 mission is expected to last about five to 10 days before undocking from the station and returning to Earth. The capsule will target one of five landing zones in the Western United States, including two locations at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and sites in Utah, Arizona, and California.

The Starliners undocking, re-entry, and landing is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 5. On that date, the primary landing site will be at White Sands.

If the OFT-2 mission achieves all its objectives, Boeing and NASA officials will look for opportunities toward the end of the year to launch the Starliner Crew Flight Test. That mission, which also launch on an Atlas 5 rocket, will carry NASA astronauts Barry Butch Wilmore, Mike Fincke, and Nicole Mann to the International Space Station.

The Atlas 5 first stage and Centaur upper stage for the Crew Flight Test arrived Sunday at Port Canaveral after riding ULAs transport ship from a factory in Decatur, Alabama.

Ground crews unloaded the rocket stages from the vessel Monday to begin launch processing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The OFT-2 mission will use the Atlas 5 rocket originally assigned to the Crew Flight Test.

If the piloted demonstration flight goes well, NASA will clear Boeing for the first of its six operational crew rotation missions to the space station in 2022.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

Go here to read the rest:
Starliner capsule fueled for unpiloted test flight to International Space Station Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

Dozens of baby squid from Hawaii are aboard the International Space Station, for a study which scientists hope can help bolster human health during long space missions.

The baby Hawaiian bobtail squid were raised at the Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawaii, then blasted into space earlier this month on a SpaceX resupply mission.

Researcher Jamie Foster, who completed her doctorate at the University of Hawaii, is studying how spaceflight affects the squid, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

The squid have a symbiotic relationship with natural bacteria that help regulate their bioluminescence. When an astronaut is in low gravity their bodys relationship with microbes changes, said University of Hawaii professor Margaret McFall-Ngai, who Foster studied under in the 1990s.

We have found that the symbiosis of humans with their microbes is perturbed in microgravity, and Jamie has shown that is true in squid, said McFall-Ngai. And, because its a simple system, she can get to the bottom of whats going wrong.

Foster is now a professor in Florida and principal investigator for a Nasa program that researches how microgravity affects the interactions between animals and microbes.

As astronauts spend more and more time in space, their immune systems become whats called dysregulated. It doesnt function as well, Foster said. Their immune systems dont recognize bacteria as easily. They sometimes get sick.

Foster said understanding what happens to the squid in space could help solve such problems.

There are aspects of the immune system that just dont work properly under long-duration spaceflights, she said. If humans want to spend time on the moon or Mars, we have to solve health problems to get them there safely.

The Kewalo Marine Laboratory breeds the squid for research projects around the world. The tiny animals are plentiful in Hawaiian waters and are about 3in long as adults. The squid will come back to Earth in July.

Read this article:
Dozens of Hawaiian baby squid aboard space station for study - The Guardian

Baby Hawaiian bobtail squid. (Photo credit: Margaret McFall-Ngai)

More than 120 baby Hawaiian bobtail squid born from a mother squid collected at Maunalua Bay were sent to the International Space Station in June to help scientists understand how astronauts health is affected during long space missions. The squid were launched into space as part of NASAs SpaceX 22nd resupply mission and are scheduled to return in July.

Jamie Foster, a University of Hawaii Kewalo Marine Laboratory alumna who completed her doctorate in 2000 under the guidance of UH Professor Margaret McFall-Ngai, a professor at the University of Florida, and principal investigator for a NASA research program Understanding of Microgravity on Animal-Microbe Interactions (UMAMI), will be investigating how squids are affected by spaceflight.

The goal of the UMAMI project is to better understand the effects of microgravity, or spaceflight, on the beneficial interactions between animals and microbes, said Foster. Beneficial interactions with microbes are critical for animal health. Studying the bobtail squid helps us understand fundamental ways bacteria initiate relationships with their animal hosts.

Hawaiian bobtail squids have one host and one microbial species, in comparison to humans, which have one host and more than 1,000 microbial species. When baby squid are born, they pick out their symbiont (the bacteria they partner with), and that partner has to drive the development of the tissues it associates with and has to stay in balance to keep animals healthy. This process is the same in humans.

Foster is trying to determine how the squids symbiont-induced development is perturbed in space, to help address health problems that astronauts face during long space missions, such as compromised immune systems and the potential for microbes to become more pathogenic.

We know that when astronauts go to space, it is not uncommon at all for them to have immune problems, and changes to their microbiota, said McFall-Ngai, who has been studying squid since 1989. You have microbes that keep you healthy on your skin and in your digestive system, and there is something about microgravity that disturbs that balance. In sending these squid into space, Jamie hopes to find basic evolutionarily conserved principles that can be applied to the human microbiome.

McFall-Ngai learned of the Hawaiian bobtail squid as a graduate student, and has spent her professional career of more than 30 years studying the species.

This particular little squid lends itself to studying symbiosis everywhere from ecology and evolutionary biology all the way up to molecular mechanisms, said McFall-Ngai. You can do just about any level of biology with this animal.

Today, there are many labs across the U.S. and Europe that study squid-vibrio symbiosis, all of which have originated out of UH.

The community we have is very tightly woven, added McFall-Ngai. Jamie got her degree at the University of Hawaii, she comes here often, and she works with the people here and other academics who have come through UH. Hawaii is like the nexus, the center, of the studies.

I first thought of the idea for UMAMI while a graduate student at UH, added Foster. My work with Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai showed me the importance of beneficial microbes in animal health, but there were no comparable studies being done in the field of space biology. I thought the Hawaiian bobtail squid would be a perfect model organism for this type of spaceflight research. It took 10 years before the first squid went to space in 2011 and another 10 years for the UMAMI mission, but each mission builds on the previous research, and I hope there will be more opportunities for this UMAMI mission to continue.

This research is an example of UH Mnoas goal of Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise (PDF), one of four goals identified in the 201525 Strategic Plan (PDF), updated in December 2020.

Originally posted here:
Squids in space! Hawaiian squid tied to UH lab visits space station | University of Hawaii System News - UH System Current News

Three Chinese astronauts recently arrived at the countrys new space station in another step forward for the growing space power.

Here is a look at some of the space stations major goals.

What is the trips purpose?

The three-member crew will stay for three months in the stations main living space, called a module. The module is named Tianhe, which means Harmony of the Heavens in Chinese. The astronauts will carry out science experiments and perform maintenance. They also plan to complete space walks and prepare the station to receive two other modules next year.

While China admits it arrived late to the space station game, it says its new station is modern and includes the latest space technology. Tianhe might even outlast the International Space Station (ISS), which is nearing the end of its operational lifespan.

The recent launch brought back Chinas crewed space program after a five-year break. China has now sent 14 astronauts into space since its first launch in 2003. It is the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to do so.

Why is it building the station?

As its economy experienced growth in the 1990s, China made a plan for space exploration. Since then, it has attempted to carry out this plan carefully and evenly.

China was barred from joining the ISS. This was mainly over U.S. objections to the Chinese programs secretive nature and close military connections. It is likely, however, that China would have built its own station anyway because of its goal to become a major space power.

Ji Qiming is the Assistant Director of the China Manned Space Agency. He recently told reporters that the building and operation of the space station will raise the level of Chinese technologies. He also said it will accumulate experience for all the people.

The space program is part of an overall drive to help China take on even larger projects. China also wants to expand cooperation with Russia and other, mostly European, countries along with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

Politics and security

Chinas space program has been a large part of its national pride. It represents the countrys rise from a poor nation to become the worlds second-largest economy in the last 40 years.

This has helped the government strengthen support for the countrys ruling Communist Party. The partys authoritarian rule and severe limits on political activity have been accepted by most Chinese citizens as long as the economy is growing.

Chinas President and head of the party, Xi Jinping, has linked himself to the latest space progress. In his recent comments, Ji gave credit to Xi for setting Chinas rise in space as a goal for the country.

As China continues to develop its space program, it is also quickly modernizing its military. This has raised concerns among some of its neighbors, as well as the U.S. and its NATO allies.

China has said it supports the peaceful development of space. But in 2007, some countries expressed concern when the country sent a missile into space to destroy an inactive weather satellite. The event created a field of debris that put other space objects at risk.

Im Gregory Stachel.

Sam McNeil reported this story for The Associated Press. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. Bryan Lynn was the editor.

__________________________________________________

maintenance n. work that is done to keep something in good condition

accumulate v. to gather or acquire (something) gradually as time passes

pride n. a feeling that you respect yourself and deserve to be respected by other people

authoritarian adj. expecting or requiring people to obey rules or laws : not allowing personal freedom

debris n. broken pieces of something

Link:
What Is the Importance of Chinas New Space Station? - VOA Learning English

Three taikonauts have entered China's space station for a three-month mission called Shenzhou-12, state-owned broadcaster CGTN reported Saturday.

This makes them the first Chinese to ever reach a space station and the first astronauts to set foot in the new Chinese Space Station (CSS), according to the broadcaster.

Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming, and Tang Hongbo lifted off aboard the Chinese rocket Shenzhou-12 on Thursday. The rocket took them to the core module of the CSS, known as Tianhe, which China launched into space in April.

The taikonauts entered the CSS less than three hours after Shenzhou-12 docked, CGTN said.

The trio will unpack their supplies, and set up internet connections and other equipment on the CSS, which is still under development, CGTN reported.

During their three-month stay, the taikonauts will carry out various experiments, including testing the Tianhe module's life-support capabilities and check communications between the space station and mission controllers on Earth.

They'll also conduct spacewalks to test new spacesuits and robot arms.

The 66-tonne Tianhe module is considerably smaller than the International Space Station (ISS), which weighs 450 tonnes. The whole space station is made up of the Tianhe and a supply ship Tianzhou-2.

Only three astronauts can fit in the Tianhe at one time.

The goal is for China to send taikonauts to the CSS for six-month stints, Insider's Morgan McFall-Johnson reported. Thursday's launch was the third of 11 planned launches to finish building the CSS in 2022.

The future eight missions will involve launching two more modules, three more cargo shipments, and three more astronaut crews.

Excerpt from:
China's space station has welcomed astronauts for three-month mission - Business Insider

US astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been complaining of headache, with Russian and US scientists divided on whether an increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the stations atmosphere is the reason, according to a fresh report by Russias Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center released on Monday.

WATCH: China Says Its Su-30 Fighter Jets Chased-Away US Spy Planes From The South China Sea

NASA put forward in 2008 requirements to reduce the level of carbon dioxide in response to subjective complaints from some astronauts about headaches at agreed CO2 levels of 5-6 millimeters of mercury column. At the same time, no medical examination of the crew was carried out to determine the possible causes of the headache, the report said, as cited in the training centers scientific magazine.

Though the level of CO2 has since been gradually reduced as requested by the US side, astronauts continue to complain of headaches, with the current concentration at less than 3 millimeters of mercury, the report said.

In 2014, NASA released an article based on a detailed study of the link between CO2 levels in the ISS atmosphere and astronauts headaches. When only Russias CO2 removal system operated at the station, as the US one was turned off, the CO2 concentration increased up to 6.2 millimeters of mercury column and astronauts were feeling irritability and fatigue, NASA said.

Russian specialists have refuted the link, saying that Russian and foreign cosmonauts flying to the ISS over the past 30 years had not complained of headaches, with an average CO2 level in the atmosphere of the stations of about 6 millimeters of mercury.

International Space Station Wikipedia

Among possible causes of such headaches, they listed the impact of weightlessness, associated with a rush of blood to the head, as well as the fact that astronauts breathed in the exhaled air with increased content of CO2.

Earlier, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said thatRussia and the United States can cooperate in space in spite of their divergent positions.

Even countries that we have differences with, in space we can cooperate, that fact is not lost on the leaders of Russia and the United States that will meet tomorrow at the summit, Nelson said at the Global Space Exploration Conference in Russias St. Petersburg, speaking by video link.

Both nations have been living and working together in space since 1975, Nelson said, recalling a rendezvous of the Soviet and the American spacecraft Soyuz and Apollo, respectively that ended the space race.

SPACE RACE: NASA Chief Predicts Race With China To Put Next Human On Moon

That was an example of cooperation and it continues to this day, in space, especially on the International Space Station [ISS], Nelson noted.

Russia has recently announced that it may withdraw from the ISS by 2025 and create its own space outpost. According to Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin, Russia could hand over responsibility for the Russian segment of the international space station to the US.

He later said, however, that Russia may revise its decision to withdraw from the ISS and build its own orbital station if Washington agrees to lift sanctions.

Nelson, for his part, has repeatedly stressed that NASA was committed to partnership with Roscosmos on the ISS.

Read More

Link:
Headache At The International Space Station; Russian, US Scientists Spar Over The Possible Causes - EurAsian Times