Updates ISS UPDATES

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: NanoRacks’ Hardware Arrives at Space Station

 

[orb]

NASA News Release:
MEDIA ADVISORY : M12-137
NASA Television to Air Upcoming Cargo Ship Launch to Space Station

July 30, 2012

WASHINGTON -- NASA Television will broadcast the launch and for the first time, the same-day rendezvous and docking of a Progress cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). Coverage begins at 3:15 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 1.

ISS Progress 48 is scheduled to launch at 3:35 p.m. from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will dock later that day at 9:24 p.m. in a test of an abbreviated launch-to-rendezvous schedule designed to reduce the typical two-day flight between a launch and docking. The goal would be to use this new approach for future Soyuz crew member flights. Progress 48 will dock at the station's Pirs port and deliver about 2 tons of supplies.

NASA TV coverage of the Progress' arrival at the station will begin at 8:45 p.m.

Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka of the Russian Federal Space Agency and his five crewmates, including NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Sunita Williams, will monitor key events during Progress 48's rendezvous and docking.

Russian flight controllers retain the option to revert to a normal 2-day rendezvous if developments require. If that occurs, the craft will dock Friday, Aug. 3, and NASA TV will provide live coverage.

{...}

 

[orb]

JAXA: MCE was installed to Kibo's Exposed Facility:

At 8:01 p.m. on August 9, the Japanese Multi-mission Consolidated Equipment (MCE) was installed to port #8 of Kibo's Exposed Facility (EF) by the Kibo's robotic arm, Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS).

MCE installed to the Exposed Facility (Credit:JAXA/NASA)​

{...}

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7UfMq-b0Uo"]Earth Illuminated: ISS Time-lapse Photography - YouTube[/ame]

 

[orb]

NASA News Release:
MEDIA ADVISORY : M12-150
Two Space Station Spacewalks to be Broadcast on NASA TV

Aug. 14, 2012

WASHINGTON -- Astronauts and cosmonauts will perform two spacewalks outside the International Space Station this month. NASA Television will broadcast both events live. Coverage of the first will begin at 10 a.m. EDT, Monday, Aug. 20. Coverage of the second will begin at 7 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 30.

The first spacewalk, scheduled to begin at 10:40 a.m., Aug. 20, will feature Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency in Russian Orlan spacesuits. They will float outside the Pirs docking compartment airlock for a 6 1/2 hour spacewalk to relocate a cargo boom from Pirs to the Zarya module, complete the installation of micrometeoroid debris shields on the Zvezda service module and deploy a small science satellite.

The second spacewalk, scheduled to begin at 8:15 a.m., Aug. 30, will feature NASA Flight Engineer Sunita Williams and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide. The duo will don U.S. extravehicular mobility unit spacesuits for the first U.S.-based spacewalk since July 2011. It will be a 6 1/2 hour excursion designed to replace a faulty power relay unit on the station's truss, rig power cables for the arrival late next year of a Russian laboratory module, and install a thermal cover on a docking port.

The spacewalks will be the 163rd and 164th in support of space station assembly and maintenance. Padalka has conducted eight previous spacewalks and will wear a suit bearing red stripes. Malenchenko has conducted four spacewalks and will wear blue stripes. For the U.S. spacewalk, Williams will wear a suit with red stripes for the fifth spacewalk in her career. Hoshide, wearing a suit with no stripes, will be conducting his first spacewalk. He is the third Japanese astronaut in history to conduct a spacewalk.

{...}

SPACE.com: Space Station Crew Gears Up for 2 Spacewalks

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Europe’s ATV-3 Spacecraft to Readjust ISS Orbit by 7.7 Km.:

Engines of European Space Agency’s ATV-3 space freighter will be switched on Wednesday to readjust the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS), the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said.

The engines of the Edoardo Amaldi spacecraft, which is docked at Russia’s Zvezda module on the ISS, will fire at 8.00 p.m. (16:00 GMT) and remain turned on for 1,876 seconds.

“As a result, the average height of the ISS orbit will be raised by 7.7 kilometers, to 414.42 km,” Roscosmos said in a statement.

The maneuver will be carried out to ensure the best conditions for the landing of Russia’s Soyuz TMA-04M manned spacecraft and the docking of the Soyuz TMA-06M manned spacecraft with the ISS, scheduled for October 15.

{...}

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: ATV-3 Vehicle Fails to Adjust Space Station Orbit:

MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) - The European Space Agency’s ATV-3 space freighter failed on Wednesday to readjust the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS), a space industry source said.

Another attempt could be made on Friday.

{...}

 

[N_Molson]

Failed ? :huh:

 

[orb]

ESA Blogs: Update on ATV reboost anomaly:

{...}

The regularly planned ISS reboost conducted by ATV-3 on 15 August stopped prematurely. The thruster burn was set to run for 1876 seconds to increase orbital speed by 4.4 m/s and raise the Station's orbit by 7.7 km to 414.4 km altitude.

The boost began as scheduled at 18:00 CEST using the No. 1 & 3 thrusters of the ATV vessel's Orbital Control System (OCS).

However, after achieving a 2.9 m/s speed increase, the boost was stopped by the ISS. A temperature alarm had been triggered by ATV on a thruster of the propulsion system (which was not used for this boost), but that is nevertheless permanently monitored.

This (correctly) generated an isolation of the suspect thruster from the rest of the vessel.

A signal was sent from ATV to the ISS to highlight this 'partial reconfiguration' (with ATV continuing to be available for the boost). But the ISS software stopped the boost, which was not the excepted reaction to this kind of anomaly.

Engineers at ATV-CC and their counterparts in Moscow and Houston are studying the cause of the initial ATV issue and of the unforeseen ISS reaction.

In order to give time to the ground experts to complete their investigation, it has been jointly agreed with the ISS control centres to perform the remainder of the yesterday's reboost during the next scheduled reboost slot, set for 22 August; this manoeuvre is compatible with the next vehicle (HTV and Soyuz) movements.

ATV remains in a safe configuration and is fully capable of performing any necessary operations, such as reboosting the Station or performing a debris avoidance manoeuvre if so commanded.

{...}

RIA Novosti: Space Station Orbit Adjustment 'to Continue on Aug. 22'

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Russian Cosmonauts to Perform Spacewalk:

{...}

“Padalka and Malenchenko are expected to open the hatches at 18:40 Moscow Time [1440 GMT] and will return to the ISS at 01:05 Moscow Time on August 21 [2105 GMT Monday],” a Mission Control Center spokesman told RIA Novosti.

The cosmonauts will upgrade the space station’s exterior and bring inside a number of specimens from a docking module to later send them to Earth for research, the spokesman said.

{...}

SPACE.com: Cosmonauts to Take Spacewalk Outside Space Station Today

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

RIA Novosti: Russian Cosmonauts to Perform Spacewalk:

​

SPACE.com: Cosmonauts to Take Spacewalk Outside Space Station Today

And a very detailed description of the EVA by our own Orbinaut Pete: NASASpaceflight.com: Russian cosmonaut duo set to perform spacewalk on ISS

Any one interested in re-creating this EVA (and the next one by US and Japan astronauts on August 30) on Orbiter? :tiphat:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Hmm.... there's a leak at the Pirs module, forcing the cosmonauts to re-pressurize the module.... :facepalm:

 

[orb]

SPACE.com: Space Station Cosmonauts Toss Satellite Overboard in Spacewalk

RIA Novosti: Russia’s ISS Crew Members Complete Spacewalk

Aviation Week: Cosmonauts Ready Space Station For New Module

Florida Today: ISS cosmonauts complete successful spacewalk

NASA: Cosmonauts Complete First Expedition 32 Spacewalk

 

[orb]

Universe Today: Shields Up! ISS Spacewalkers Install New Micrometeorite Shields

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: International Space Station Orbit to be Readjusted:

Specialists of the Moscow Region-based Mission Control Center will on Wednesday carry out two maneuvers to readjust the orbit of the International Space Station, a spokesman for the center said.

Both readjustments will be made by the European Space Agency’s Edoardo Amaldi Automated Transfer Vehicle 003 (ATV-3) resupply spacecraft, he told RIA Novosti.

The spokesman said the ATV-3 engines will first be switched on at 01:45 p.m. Moscow Time (0945 GMT) and will operate for 384 seconds to raise the station’s average orbit altitude to 414.8 km (257.7 miles).

The second maneuver will start at 05:17 p.m. Moscow Time (1317 GMT) and the engines will be on for 2088.5 seconds to raise the orbit to 420.6 km (261.3 miles).

The regularly planned reboost stopped "prematurely" on August 15 due to a temperature alarm in the vehicle's propulsion system, the ESA said.

The ATV-3, docked at the ISS's Zvezda module, was scheduled to raise the station's orbit by 7.7 kilometers (4.8 miles) to an altitude of 414.4 kilometers (257.5 miles), but raised it only by 5.1 km (3.2 miles).

{...}

NASASpaceflight: ASAP discuss plans to deorbit the ISS via the use of two Progress ships:

Managers with the International Space Station Program have discussed their End Of Life (EOL) plans for the orbital outpost with NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), citing a plan to use two Russian Progress vehicles to send the Station into a destructive re-entry. However, such an event may not occur until 2028.

{...}

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Europe’s ATV-3 Space Freighter Adjusts Space Station Orbit:

Europe’s ATV-3 unmanned resupply spacecraft raised the International Space Station (ISS) orbit to about 415 kilometers, a mission control spokesman said on Wednesday.

ATV-3 engines were switched on at 1:15 p.m. Moscow time [09:15 GMT] in the first of the two maneuvers to adjust the ISS orbit scheduled for Wednesday.

“The engines remained switched on for 384 seconds, raising the ISS orbit to 414.8 km,” the source said.

The second reboost is planned to begin at 5:17 p.m. Moscow time [13:17 GMT]. ATV-3 engines will be switched on for almost 35 minutes, raising the station’s orbit to an average altitude of 420.6 km.

{...}

 

[orb]

Aviation Week: Young JPL Staff Use ISS For Optical Comms Tests

 

[orb]

Photos from the Aug. 20 EVA:

{colsp=4}

Click on images to enlarge​

​

|

​

|

​

|

​

​

|

​

|

​

|

​

​

|

​

|

​

|

​

​

|

​

|

​

|

​

{colsp=2}

​

|{colsp=2}

​

Source: Roscosmos

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Yahoo: Singer Sarah Brightman may be Russia's next space tourist: report

I just hope that she will not break the cupola's windows with the vocal cord....... :shifty:

 

[orb]

CBS News Space: Two station astronauts set for NASA spacewalk

SPACE.com: Space Station Astronauts to Take Spacewalk Today

 

[orb]

NASASpaceflight: Astronaut duo performing first post-Shuttle US spacewalk on ISS, article by Orbinaut Pete

SPACE.com: Astronauts Take Spacewalk Outside Space Station

CBS News Space: Realtime coverage of U.S. EVA-18

Florida Today: Astronauts venture out on spacewalk