William Harwood – Page 51 – Spaceflight Now

NASA opts to grab a boulder, not the whole asteroid

March 25, 2015 William Harwood

After an extended review, NASA has opted to forgo capturing a small asteroid as an interim step on the road to sending astronauts to Mars. Instead, the agency will focus on robotically plucking a sizable boulder from the surface of an asteroid and returning it to the vicinity of the moon for analysis by spacewalking astronauts in the mid 2020s.

Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan, returning international crew home

March 12, 2015 William Harwood

Three space station fliers — the outgoing NASA commander and two Russian cosmonauts — undocked and returned to Earth Wednesday, ending a 167-day stay in space with a communications blackout that left the crew out of contact with flight controllers during much of the trip home.

NASA probe closes in on dwarf planet Ceres

March 2, 2015 William Harwood

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is closing in on the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, beaming back increasingly sharp pictures revealing a heavily cratered world with unexpected spots of light that may be reflections off exposed ice or some other material.

Astronauts install antennas for commercial crew capsules

March 1, 2015 William Harwood

Astronauts Terry Virts and space station commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore ventured back outside Sunday for their third spacewalk in eight days to complete initial preparations for upcoming dockings by commercially developed Boeing and SpaceX crew ferry ships.

NASA approves Sunday spacewalk

February 28, 2015 William Harwood

International Space Station managers Friday cleared astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Terry Virts to proceed with a third spacewalk Sunday, as originally planned, after concluding a small amount of water in Virts’ space helmet after an EVA Wednesday was an understood condition and not a threat to crew safety.

Successful spacewalk ends with water leak

February 25, 2015 William Harwood

Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Terry Virts floated outside the International Space Station Wednesday for the second of three spacewalks to help ready the complex for dockings by commercial crew capsules. Back inside the station’s airlock, Virts reported a small amount of water in his space helmet, but officials said he was not in any danger.

Astronauts prep space station for commercial capsules

February 21, 2015 William Harwood

Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Terry Virts floated outside the International Space Station Saturday and installed wiring needed for two new docking mechanisms that will be attached later this year for use by Boeing and SpaceX crew capsules.

Astronauts, spacesuits ready for spacewalk Saturday

February 19, 2015 William Harwood

NASA space station managers decided Thursday to delay the first two of three planned spacewalks by one day to give flight controllers and engineers a chance to catch their collective breath after exhaustive troubleshooting to verify the health of critical internal spacesuit components.

NASA outlines FY 2016 budget request

February 2, 2015 William Harwood

The Obama administration’s fiscal 2016 budget includes $18.5 billion for NASA — a half-billion-dollar increase — that continues development of a new mega-rocket and capsule for deep space exploration and significantly boosts funding for commercial spacecraft to ferry crews to and from the space station, agency officials said Monday.

NASA expects continued use of Soyuz in era of commercial spaceships

January 28, 2015 William Harwood

NASA hopes to begin launching astronauts to the space station aboard Boeing and SpaceX capsules in the 2017 timeframe, but managers expect to still send crews up aboard Russian spacecraft as a hedge against problems that could force some astronauts to make an emergency landing.