Tag: international space station
Astronauts take spacewalk to swap International Space Station’s batteries
Two American astronauts are taking a spacewalk to replace ageing batteries on the International Space Station. NASA’s Anne McClain and Nick Hague are scheduled to work in space for several hours to swap three old nickel-hydrogen batteries with more powerful lithium-ion batteries. The duo overcame minor struggles in their first task, which involved attaching a…
NASA’s new rocket will not be ready for moon mission next year
NASA's massive new rocket will not be ready for a moon shot next year, the space agency’s top official has told the US Congress. Administrator Jim Bridenstine said he is considering switching to commercial rockets to keep the June 2020 launch date. Mr Bridenstine told a Senate committee that two private rockets would be needed,…
SpaceX capsule departs International Space Station for Atlantic splashdown
SpaceX’s new crew capsule has undocked from the International Space Station and is heading towards an old-fashioned splashdown. The Dragon capsule pulled away from the orbiting lab with a test dummy named Ripley as its lone occupant. It is aiming for a splashdown in the Atlantic off Florida’s coast, the final hurdle of the six-day…
SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule completes space station docking
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule has arrived at the International Space Station, completing its second milestone in just over a day. No-one was on board the Dragon capsule that launched Saturday on its first test flight, only an instrumented dummy. Up early? Here's your opportunity to watch the remarkable 17,500 mph, in-orbit dance that brings together…
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft blasts off into space
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft took off on Saturday morning, marking the first major step towards US ambitions to resume sending astronauts into space on its own spacecraft on American soil. The un-crewed spacecraft launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 2.49am local time (7.49am UK time) as planned, on top of a Falcon…
2018 Space Exploration highlights – Space X test flight, NASA InSight Mars landing
Mankind’s curiosity to see what lies beyond planet Earth progressed further in 2018, with a number of successful missions and test flights that could see ordinary folk blast off on rockets within a few years. However, the year in which NASA turned 60 and the International Space Station (ISS) celebrated its 20th anniversary didn’t go…
Astronauts arrive safely on International Space Station
Soyuz took off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan just after 11.31am GMT (NASA/PA) The latest batch of astronauts to take up residence on board the International Space Station (ISS) have arrived safely following a six-hour flight. Astronauts Anne McClain from American space agency NASA, David Saint-Jacques from the Canadian Space…
Happy 20th Birthday International Space Station! See our video celebration below
The International Space Station is celebrating 20 years since being launched into orbit. On November 20 1998, Zarya was the first piece of the ISS, carried into space by a Russian Proton rocket. The station was unmanned until nearly two years later, when American astronaut William M (Bill) Shepherd along with Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev…
Watch out Commander Hadfield – astronaut Reid Wiseman is making Vines in space
Check out this amazing Vine from astronaut Reid Wiseman, who is currently a resident of the International Space Station. "Turns out a sphere of floating water makes the ultimate fisheye lens", he tweeted. Wiseman of course is following in the footsteps of Commander Chris Hadfield who won the internet last year with his amazing David…
International Space Station astronauts indulging in urine-drinking party tonight
You wouldn’t think people would ever be pleased to hear they can start drinking their own urine – but the astronauts on the International Space Station are currently over the moon about it.
“There will be dancing later,” Mission Control said, after ISS commander Mike Fincke told Earth that the the orbiting station’s faulty urine processor – which filter space wee, condensation and SWEAT and turns it into lovely drinking water – was finally fixed.
This raises two important questions – how do you dance in zero gravity? And before…
