Stories about life and business about NASA’s orbiting lab.
Earlier this month, astronauts disposed of ~172 pounds of trash using a completely new method: sending it out of the commercial Bishop Airlock. Working with Houston, Nanoracks cycled its Bishop Airlock, ejected a specially designed trash bag, and voila, the ISS crew had less waste to worry about. “The first full end-to-end cycle was a […]
We’ve made it halfway through 2022. The year has flown by, but it’s been filled with big news and firsts for the space industry. Here’s our recap of the off-Earth goings-on during these last six months. Q1 The year started off with a bang as JWST unfolded successfully, reached its new home a million miles […]
Sierra Space announced on Tuesday that it will begin its own astronaut training program, led by Janet Kavandi, the company’s president and a retired NASA astronaut. As Sierra edges closer to the debut flight of Dream Chaser and, later on, the buildout of Orbital Reef, it’s thinking in advance about future LEO staffing needs. Dream […]
NASA has named the long-awaited designers who will build the next generation of spacesuits. Axiom Space and a team led by Collins Aerospace have won the agency’s Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract, and will dress the next astronauts to return to the lunar surface. The background: NASA’s astronauts need new clothes for a new […]
Beset by software glitches and leaky valves, Boeing’s commercial crew capsule has had a rocky road to orbit. But on Friday, the OFT-2 mission finally delivered Starliner safely to the ISS. ICYMI: The Starliner capsule is meant to provide NASA with a second way to get astronauts to the ISS (along with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon […]
Climate scientists are asking NASA to extend the lifetime of the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) sensor, a project on the ISS that provides vital forest health tracking information, The Guardian reports. The $150M sensor has been attached to the ISS since April 2019. It’s scheduled to be deorbited next January. GEDI: The sensor, developed […]
China’s biggest space contractor, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), led a record-breaking year of launches in 2021. And CASC isn’t slowing down—the contractor announced on social media Saturday that it has 40 launches planned for 2022, including six that will finish construction of the Tiangong space station. The last 365 days: CASC’s Long […]
The new year has brought a new lease on life for the ISS. News dump much? NASA said Dec. 31—via blog post—that the White House formally supports the extension of ISS operations through the end of the decade. Until now, US policy was to keep the ISS kicking through at least 2024. Unofficially, the assumption was […]
Yesterday, the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report on the agency’s management of the ISS. OIG’s findings underscore the high stakes riding on success with the Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program. CLD will support the development of one or more private space stations that could replace the ISS once it is decommissioned […]
The ISS is returning to a normal configuration after two close passes with space debris, and crew initiated “safe haven” protocols. Under these procedures, astronauts treat vehicles as “lifeboats” and prepare for the possibility of an emergency departure. “In order to dodge the ‘space junk’, specialists…have calculated how to correct the orbit of the International Space Station,” […]
Just hours after the Crew-3 launch Wednesday, the International Space Station (ISS) was forced to fire up its rockets and perform an unplanned engine burn. Roscosmos and NASA officials collaborated on the impromptu ISS reorientation. Why the maneuver? To evade a piece of space debris that was projected to get too close for comfort. Which debris? A […]
At long last, SpaceX and NASA are nearly ready to launch the Crew-3 mission. *knocks on wood* Where? Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A → the International Space Station (ISS) Who? NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer When? The launch window opens at 9:03 pm […]
