William Harwood – Page 36 – Spaceflight Now

One station crew heads home, another preps for launch

June 2, 2018 William Harwood

With three space station fliers heading home Sunday after a 168-day mission, three fresh crew members made final preparations for launch three days later to boost the lab’s crew back to six in a rapid-fire rotation that will prevent any major interruption of research activity.

Alan Bean, moonwalker turned artist, dies at 86

May 26, 2018 William Harwood

Alan Bean, a Navy test pilot and astronaut who walked on the moon and then spent two months aboard America’s first space station before leaving NASA and becoming an accomplished artist, painting moonscapes and space vistas that garnered widespread critical praise, died Saturday. He was 86.

Orbital ATK readies cargo ship for launch to space station

May 20, 2018 William Harwood

Orbital ATK readied an upgraded Antares rocket for launch Monday from Wallops Island, Va., to deliver more than 3 tons of crew supplies, science gear, spare parts and three small satellites to the International Space Station to test miniaturized, low-cost technologies for Earth observation applications.

Astronauts reposition space station cooling pumps on successful spacewalk

May 16, 2018 William Harwood

Two astronauts worked outside the International Space Station Wednesday to reposition two spare solar array ammonia coolant pump assemblies, putting a failed unit, dubbed “Leaky,” into long-term storage and attaching another, known as “Frosty,” to an appendage of the lab’s robot arm.

Water plumes on Europa detected by Galileo spacecraft

May 14, 2018 William Harwood

A review of data captured by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft as it orbited Jupiter in the 1990s indicates it likely flew through a plume of water vapor spewing from cracks in the surface of the moon Europa, providing independent evidence water is being released from a vast sub-surface ocean beneath its frozen crust, scientists said Monday.

Bridenstine sworn in as 13th NASA administrator

April 23, 2018 William Harwood

Oklahoma Republican Rep. Jim Bridenstine resigned from the House of Representatives Monday and was sworn in as NASA’s 13th administrator by Vice President Mike Pence, chairman of the recently revitalized National Space Council.

Bridenstine narrowly confirmed in Senate to become next NASA chief

April 19, 2018 William Harwood

Rep. Jim Bridenstine, an Oklahoma Republican, was confirmed Thursday as NASA’s 13th administrator after months of partisan wrangling over his lack of experience in the space arena and prior statements questioning human contributions to climate change.

SpaceX poised to launch planet-hunter

April 16, 2018 William Harwood

SpaceX readied a Falcon 9 rocket for takeoff Monday to launch a planet-hunting satellite for NASA that will monitor the light from countless stars to find potentially habitable planets worthy of follow-up studies by more powerful ground- and space-based observatories.

Spacewalkers accomplish all objectives in six-hour excursion

March 29, 2018 William Harwood

Two newly arrived space station astronauts, both veteran spacewalkers, suited up and ventured outside the lab complex Thursday to install additional wireless communications gear, to replace a balky camera and its pan-and-tilt mechanism and to remove two suspect hoses in the station’s ammonia coolant system.

Soyuz spacecraft with crew of three docks with space station

March 23, 2018 William Harwood

A Russian Soyuz ferry ship carrying a Russian commander and two NASA astronauts caught up with the International Space Station Friday and executed a flawless docking to close out a two-day rendezvous that began with launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.