The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 9:39 a.m. EST, and Dragon has begun its journey to the International Space Station with an arrival scheduled for Wednesday. Dragon separated from the Falcon 9 about 10 minutes after launch.
For more information on the SpaceX CRS-10 mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/spacex. For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station.
Three Expedition 50 crew members practiced today the robotic capture of the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship when it arrives at the International Space Station two days after its launch. A humanoid robot, better known as Robonaut, had its power supply checked out during a full day of troubleshooting.
Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet partnered up and practiced capturing the Dragon cargo ship using the Canadarm2 robotic arm. The duo will be in the cupola Monday morning to capture Dragon following its 10:01 a.m. EST Saturday launch from Kennedy Space Center. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will assist her crewmates and monitor Dragon’s approach and rendezvous.
Dragon is packing nearly 5,500 pounds of crew supplies, station gear and advanced science experiments. Some of the research will look at new technologies to improve space travel, observation gear to study Earth’s ozone and processes to improve how medicine works.
Whitson worked throughout the day on the robotic astronaut assistant, Robonaut. She opened up Robonaut’s torso and checked its cables and computer cards searching for an intermittent fault in its power supply. Robonaut is being tested for its ability to assist astronauts in the future with routine tasks and high risk activities.
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The Expedition 50 crew is getting ready for the upcoming SpaceX CRS-10 mission to resupply the International Space Station. Commander Shane Kimbrough checked out SpaceX communications gear today so the astronauts can monitor the approach and rendezvous of the Dragon cargo craft.
SpaceX is targeting Feb. 18 to launch its Dragon space freighter atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Dragon is scheduled to arrive at the station two days later for a robotic capture and a month-long stay at the Harmony module
Kimbrough also joined Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Thomas Pesquet for periodic eye exams during the afternoon. The trio started the day collecting blood and urine samples and stowing them in a science freezer for later analysis on the ground. The ongoing human research helps doctors understand how living in space affects astronauts as NASA plans longer-term missions farther out into space.
Kimbrough and his Soyuz MS-02 crewmates Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko are now set to return to Earth April 10 officially ending the Expedition 50 mission. Whitson will become Expedition 51 commander and continue her stay on the station with fellow crew members Pesquet and cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy.
Two new Expedition 51 crew members will launch to the station April 20. Veteran cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Jack Fischer will take a single-day ride inside the Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft to begin their mission on orbit.
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The International Space Station is continuing to receive software updates to improve its spacecraft communications and navigation systems. Meanwhile, the astronauts today are setting up new life science gear and testing the docking ability of tiny internal satellites.
New software is being uplinked and installed on the station this week to increase the communications and control of approaching spacecraft. The crew will also replace portable computer hard drives with new ones after the software transition.
SpaceX is looking to launch its Dragon cargo craft no earlier than Feb. 18 on a two-day trip to deliver crew supplies and new science experiments to the Expedition 50 crew. One study being shipped on Dragon will explore healing and tissue regeneration to fight bone and tissue loss in space. Habitats with telemetry and video were installed for the study and will house rodents being launched aboard Dragon.
A pair of bowling ball-sized satellites, known as SPHERES, were deployed inside the Kibo lab module to test new algorithms and docking techniques. The SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites) are used for numerous experiments including today’s study to demonstrate the ability for future spacecraft to autonomously dock and undock.
The Expedition 50 crew is getting the International Space Station ready for new experiments that will be delivered on the next SpaceX Dragon resupply mission. The station is also receiving a software update for its navigation and control systems.
Dragon is set to deliver new research gear for a variety of experiments exploring the benefits and risks of living in space. The crew began setting up the station today for a pair of those studies that will explore life science.
Cosmonaut Andrey Borisenko began installing habitats to house rodents for an exploration into bone and tissue loss caused by microgravity. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson set up new gear in the Microgravity Science Glovebox to cultivate human stem cells for evaluating their use in treating disease.
New software has been uplinked to the station to update its Guidance, Navigation and Control systems and its Command and Control systems. The updates will improve communications with spacecraft approaching the station and add new computer connectivity with docked vehicles.
The Expedition 50 crew is gearing up for three different spaceships in two months to resupply the International Space Station. The crew also worked today on a variety of research hardware and practiced an emergency drill.
Two U.S. companies are getting their rockets ready to deliver food, fuel, supplies and new science gear to the crew. SpaceX is first in line with a plan to launch their Dragon spacecraft atop its Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than Feb. 18. Next, Orbital ATK is targeting March 19 to launch their Cygnus spacecraft on its seventh resupply mission to the station. Both spaceships will be captured by the Canadarm2 robotic. The Dragon will be installed to the Harmony module and the Cygnus will be attached to the Unity module.
Russia is preparing its Progress 66 (66P) cargo craft for a Feb. 22 launch from Kazakhstan. The 66P will take a two-day trip to the orbital laboratory before automatically docking to the Pirs Docking Compartment.
Onboard the station, Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet spent the day in Japan’s Kibo lab module working on science gear maintenance. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson installed a leak locator in Kibo’s airlock that will be used to locate the source of an ammonia leak outside the Japanese lab.
Commander Shane Kimbrough and his Soyuz crewmates cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov got together in the afternoon an emergency descent drill. The trio practiced the procedures necessary to evacuate the station quickly in the unlikely event of an emergency and return to Earth inside their Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft.
SpaceX has announced no earlier than Feb. 18 for the launch of its tenth commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. Dragon will be loaded with advanced space science and will launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.
Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet will command the Canadarm2 to capture Dragon when it arrives about two days later. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will assist the duo and monitor Dragon as it approaches the station for a month-long stay.
The crew took a break from SpaceX preparations today and focused on a wide variety of science work. Kimbrough set up a pair of tiny internal satellites known as SPHERES and tested their ability to perform automated docking maneuvers. The tests will assist in the development of computer vision tracking algorithms possibly helping in the recovery of space debris.
Pesquet and Whitson worked in the afternoon to swap a gas bottle inside the Combustion Integrated Rack. The rack, located in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module, enables safe research into how fuels and other materials burn in space.
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The Expedition 50 crew trained today for the robotic capture of the SpaceX Dragon and studied how the brain adapts to living in space. Three crew members also conducted an emergency drill aboard the International Space Station.
Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Thomas Pesquet joined Commander Shane Kimbrough to study the robotics maneuvers they will use when the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship arrives later this month. Dragon is targeted to liftoff mid-February atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The tenth commercial resupply mission from SpaceX will deliver advanced space research to improve disease-fighting drugs, observe Earth’s climate and automate spacecraft navigation.
Whitson also set up magnetic resonance brain imaging hardware for the NeuroMapping experiment. The study, which has been ongoing since 2014, is exploring changes in the brain and how an astronaut’s cognition, perception and motion are affected by long-term space missions.
Veteran station residents Oleg Novitskiy and Whitson along with first-time space flyer Pesquet practiced an emergency Soyuz descent today. The trio entered their Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft and simulated a scenario in the unlikely event the crew would have to evacuate the station quickly and return to Earth.
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A new high-definition Earth observation video camera will be installed on the outside of Japan’s Kibo lab module later this week. The Expedition 50 crew is also getting the International Space Station ready for the next SpaceX Dragon resupply ship.
An HDTV camera delivered aboard Japan’s HTV-6 cargo craft in December is being readied for its deployment outside Kibo. The video camera will be staged inside the Kibo airlock today before depressurization and leak checks begin. The HDTV camera will then be robotically installed on a platform outside Kibo called the Exposed Facility where it will be used for Earth observations.
The astronauts are also getting communications gear ready to assist with the rendezvous and approach of the tenth SpaceX Dragon commercial resupply mission. Dragon is planned to launch later this month from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA is hosting a media teleconference Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST highlighting new experiments being delivered aboard Dragon. The advanced space research will include studies to fight a wide range of diseases, observe Earth’s climate and test autonomous rendezvous capabilities.
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Japan’s Kounotori, or “White Stork,” HTV-6 resupply ship completed its mission Sunday morning just over a week after its release from the International Space Station. The HTV-6 fired its engines for the last time sending it into Earth’s atmosphere for a fiery demise over the southern Pacific Ocean.
The Expedition 50 crew is now planning for the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft later in February. The astronauts, including Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Thomas Pesquet, talked to ground specialists Monday. The trio then began reviewing the mission profile, training materials and rendezvous procedures.
Kimbrough started his day working on life support systems maintenance before activating a combustion experiment laptop computer at the end of his shift. Pesquet wrapped up his day in the Japanese Kibo lab module preparing the airlock for the external installation of a high-definition video camera for Earth observations. Whitson began preparing communications and science gear ahead of the SpaceX CRS-10 resupply mission.
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