Human Spaceflight – Page 55

After previous crew’s return, new space station residents set for launch Wednesday

June 5, 2018 William Harwood

With three space station fliers safely back on Earth after a pinpoint landing Sunday, three fresh crew members made final preparations for launch Wednesday from Kazakhstan to boost the lab’s crew back to six.

Soyuz rocket for next station crew transferred to launch pad in Kazakhstan

June 4, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Soyuz booster set for liftoff Wednesday with a Russian cosmonaut, a German flight engineer, and a former NASA flight surgeon heading for the International Space Station arrived at its launch pad in Kazakhstan Monday.

Space station crew closes out 168-day mission

June 3, 2018 William Harwood

A Russian cosmonaut, a NASA flight engineer and a Japanese physician-astronaut strapped into their Soyuz ferry ship early Sunday, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 168-day mission.

Live coverage: Soyuz capsule brings home three-man crew

June 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

A three-man crew departed the International Space Station on Sunday, concluding more than five months aboard the orbiting research complex and heading for landing in Kazakhstan. Undocking of the Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft occurred at 0916 GMT (5:16 a.m. EDT), and the trio landed on the Kazakh steppe at 1239 GMT (8:39 a.m. EDT).

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.

New helium tank for SpaceX crew launches still waiting to fly

May 25, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is still working on a new, safer helium tank design needed for launches with astronauts, and the debut of the company’s upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket earlier this month did not count as one of seven successful missions in “crew configuration” NASA says it requires before putting astronauts aboard the vehicle, officials said Thursday.

Cygnus arrives at station with CubeSats, quantum physics experiment

May 24, 2018 Stephen Clark

Closing out a three-day chase from a launch pad in Virginia, Orbital ATK’s Cygnus cargo freighter arrived Thursday at the International Space Station with nearly 7,400 pounds of equipment, delivering food, a quantum physics experiment, and CubeSats for later deployment in orbit.

NASA wrestles with what to do with International Space Station after 2024

May 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

Lawmakers last week questioned the Trump administration’s proposal to end direct U.S. government support of the International Space Station in 2025, citing concerns about the economic viability of commercial outposts in low Earth orbit.

Photos: Bangabandhu 1 launched by upgraded Falcon 9 rocket

May 18, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s upgraded Falcon 9 rocket debuted May 11 with a successful launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying the Bangabandhu 1 communications satellite.