This series of images, captured by cameras on the International Space Station (ISS) show the departure from the station of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft.
SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 3:39 p.m. EDT a few hundred miles west of Baja California, Mexico, marking the end of the company’s fourth contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station.
The spacecraft is returning 3,276 pounds of NASA cargo and science samples from the International Space Station. A boat will take the Dragon spacecraft to a port near Los Angeles, where some cargo will be removed and returned to NASA within 48 hours. Dragon will be prepared for a return journey to SpaceX’s test facility in McGregor, Texas, for processing.
The mission was the fourth of 12 cargo resupply trips SpaceX will make to the space station through 2016 under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.
The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft was released from the International Space Station’s robotic arm at 9:57 a.m. EDT. The capsule will begin a series of departure burns and maneuvers to move beyond the 656-foot (200-meter) “keep out sphere” around the station and begin its return trip to Earth. The capsule is currently scheduled to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 3:39 p.m., about 265 miles west of the Baja peninsula.
Cosmonauts Max Suraev and Alexander Samokutyaev are working on their Russian Orlan spacesuits after Wednesday’s three-hour, 38-minute spacewalk. Elena Serova, Russia’s first female cosmonaut to live and work aboard the International Space Station, worked maintenance, checked the station’s air and collected radiation readings.
Astronauts Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst took turns Thursday scanning each other’s eyes with an Ultrasound. NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore checked out a hardware and control panel that will be used to communicate with the Cygnus private space freighter after it launches Oct. 27.
Expedition 50 crew members (from left) Peggy Whitson, Oleg Novitskiy and Thomas Pesquet are seen in quarantine behind glass during a crew press conference. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
At the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, Oleg Novitskiy of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) are preparing for launch to the International Space Station. They are scheduled to lift off today in a Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft at 3:20 p.m. EST (2:20 a.m. Nov. 18, Baikonur time).
Live coverage of the launch will begin at 2:30 p.m. on NASA Television and the agency’s website. Check out the NASA TV schedule online for information on how to watch live and replays.
The three crew members will join Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko, who have been aboard the complex since October. Whitson, Novitskiy and Pesquet will remain aboard the station until next spring. Kimbrough, Ryzhikov and Borisenko are scheduled to remain aboard the station until late February.
The Expedition 50 crew members will contribute to more than 250 experiments in fields such as biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development.
Below is the launch timeline for the crew in EST:
Nov. 17
9:20 a.m. Crew departs Cosmonaut Hotel
9:35 a.m. Batteries installed in booster
10:05 a.m. Crew arrives at Site 254
10:20 a.m. Tanking begins
10:50 a.m. Crew suit up
11:15 a.m. Booster loaded with liquid oxygen
11:50 a.m. Crew meets family members on other side of the glass
12:15 p.m. First and second stage oxygen fueling complete
12:20 p.m. Crew walkout from 254; boards bus for the launch pad
12:25 p.m. Crew departs for launch pad at Site 31
12:45 p.m. Crew arrives at launch pad
12:55 p.m. Crew boards Soyuz; strapped in to the Descent module
1:45 p.m. Descent module hardware tested
2:00 p.m. Hatch closed; leak checks begin
2:20 p.m. Launch vehicle control system prep; gyro activation 2:30 p.m. NASA TV LAUNCH COVERAGE BEGINS
2:35 p.m. Pad service structure components lowered
2:36 p.m. Clamshell gantry service towers retracted
2:43 p.m. Suit leak checks begin; descent module testing complete 2:45 p.m. NASA TV: Crew pre-launch activities played (B-roll)
2:46 p.m. Emergency escape system armed
3:05 p.m. Suit leak checks complete; escape system to auto
3:10 p.m. Gyros in flight readiness and recorders activated
3:13 p.m. Pre-launch operations complete
3:14 p.m. Launch countdown operations to auto; vehicle ready
3:15 p.m. Commander’s controls activated
3:16 p.m. Combustion chamber nitrogen purge
3:17 p.m. Propellant drainback
3:17 p.m. Booster propellant tank pressurization
3:18 p.m. Ground propellant feed terminated
3:19 p.m. Vehicle to internal power;
3:19 p.m. First umbilical tower separates Auto sequence start
3:19 p.m. Ground umbilical to third stage disconnected
3:19 p.m. Second umbilical tower separates
3:20 p.m. Launch command issued Engine Start Sequence Begins
3:20 p.m. Engine turbopumps at flight speed
3:20 p.m. Engines at maximum thrust 3:20:13 p.m. LAUNCH
3:28 p.m. Third stage separation and orbital insertion
To learn more about the International Space Station, visit:
Spacewalkers (from left) Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet work to complete the installation of a roll out solar array on June 20, 2021,
The Expedition 65 crew continued its space research activities today while two astronauts prepared for their third spacewalk in less than two weeks. The International Space Station will also see a U.S. cargo craft depart and a Russian one launch on the same day next week.
NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei strapped himself to an exercise cycle and attached sensors to himself on Tuesday morning for a workout study measuring aerobic capacity in space. NASA Flight Engineer Megan McArthur explored how bacteria is affected by microgravity and ways to counteract harmful changes.
Eye checks were back on the schedule for four astronauts on Tuesday afternoon. Commander Akihiko Hoshide and Vande Hei took turns operating medical imaging gear and scanned the eyes of astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet. A variety of eye exams take place on the station helping researchers understand how weightlessness impacts an astronaut’s vision.
Kimbrough and Pesquet are also getting ready for more solar array installation work on the outside of the orbiting lab. The duo reviewed procedures today for installing a second roll out solar array on the station’s Port-6 truss structure. The veteran spacewalkers will set their spacesuits to battery power at 8 a.m. EDT on Friday signifying the official start of their third excursion in 9 days. Live coverage on NASA TV starts at 6:30 a.m. on the agency’s website and the NASA app.
Hoshide and Vande Hei spent some time Tuesday morning loading Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter ahead of its departure scheduled for July 29 at 12:25 p.m. Russia’s ISS Progress 78 resupply ship will launch the same day at 7:27 p.m. and dock to the station two days later at 9:02 p.m.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy packed the ISS Progress 77 resupply ship readying the vehicle for its undocking in late July. The veteran cosmonaut also trapped clouds of particles using both neon and argon gas for a plasma crystal experiment. Russian Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov had an exercise test on a treadmill today then serviced a variety of communications and life support hardware.
