ISS

Paragon Aims for 98% Water Recovery on ISS

Paragon Aims for 98% Water Recovery on ISS

Paragon Space Development Corporation Press Release:  Paragon Space Development Corporation® Wins NASA ISS Water Processor Development Contract TUCSON, AZ (February 22, 2016) – NASA has awarded Paragon with a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract for the patented Ionomer-membrane Water Processor (IWP) System. IWP will provide the platform for up to 98% water […]

Posted in: ISS, NASA
Russian Progress “Ceases to Exist” Over the Central Pacific

Russian Progress “Ceases to Exist” Over the Central Pacific

Roscosmos has reported that the stricken M-27M Progress resupply vessel reentered the Earth’s atmosphere overnight. The statement, which is on the agency’s website (in Russian), says that the craft “ceased to exist over the central Pacific Ocean, and that the results of an investigation will be presented no later than May 13th.  Further reports in […]

Posted in: ISS, Russian Space
(Update) Drama in Space: Russian Progress Freighter Reported Spinning Out of Control

(Update) Drama in Space: Russian Progress Freighter Reported Spinning Out of Control

Liftoff of Progress M-27-M / Image Credit Roscosmos A flurry of reports in Russia new media indicate that yesterday’s launch of the Progress M-27-M resupply freighter to the International Space Station has gone awry, and perhaps badly so. Liftoff took place aboard a Soyuz-2.1a booster from the Baikonour Cosmodome in Kazakhstan at 10:09 AM Moscow […]

Posted in: ISS, Russian Space
NASA’s Year Long Mission Gets Underway

NASA’s Year Long Mission Gets Underway

Launch of Expedition 43 / Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls It’s not a five year mission, and it certainly isn’t going anywhere “no-one has gone before,” but NASA’s longest manned space mission got underway on Friday with the liftoff of a Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft carrying veteran American astronaut Scott Kelly, and Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady […]

Posted in: ISS, Space Tourism
Dragon Berths, Drone Ship Docks

Dragon Berths, Drone Ship Docks

Following its early Saturday morning launch, the SpaceX CRS-5 Dragon capsule made its way to the International Space Station where it was “captured” a 5:54 AM EST as the orbiting complex sailed high above the Mediterranean Sea. Operating the Station’s Canadarm 2 robotic arm and grapple were Expedition 42 Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore (NASA)  and […]

Posted in: Dragon, ISS
Here Be Dragons: The Rise of SpaceX and the Journey to Mars

Here Be Dragons: The Rise of SpaceX and the Journey to Mars

Here Be Dragons: The Rise of SpaceX and the Pursuit of Mars is an in-depth history of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation and the Falcon 9/Dragon system which just won NASA’s Commercial Crew award to return human spaceflight capacity to the United States. It is much more than that however.  SpaceX was founded with the Red […]

Maintaining the International Space Station Through 2024 : NASA OIG Report

Maintaining the International Space Station Through 2024 : NASA OIG Report

NASA’s Office of Inspector General released a report yesterday outlining several issues facing NASA as it seeks to extent the operating life of the International Space Station from current threshold of 2020, until at least 2024. The good news is that there are no outstanding technical issues which seriously threaten the ability to keep the […]

Posted in: ISS, NASA
Last ATV Docks With ISS

Last ATV Docks With ISS

Image Credit: NASA TV The last of five European Space Agency ATV’s docked with the International Space Station earlier today.  One has to wonder whether Europe will ultimately regret terminating the ATV production line in favor of supporting NASA’s Space Launch System by providing a service module for the first and likely second SLS/Orion missions […]

Posted in: ISS
Soyuz Crew Reverts to Slow Ascent After Thruster Problem

Soyuz Crew Reverts to Slow Ascent After Thruster Problem

  From NASA: The next trio of crew members destined for the International Space Station is now looking forward to a Thursday arrival at the orbiting laboratory after their Soyuz spacecraft was unable to complete its third thruster burn to fine-tune its approach. Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineers Oleg Artemyev of the Russian […]

Posted in: ISS
Two Rockets, Two Visions Await Launch to ISS

Two Rockets, Two Visions Await Launch to ISS

Image Credit: NASA Today finds two launch vehicles and two capsules at their respective pads waiting for blast-off to the International Space Station. First up is the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, scheduled to launch expedition 39 at 5:17 pm EDT today. The crew consists of Oleg Artemyev,  Alexander Skvortsov, and Steve Swanson. […]

Posted in: ISS
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