IDA – Spaceflight Now

Spacewalkers help install new space station docking port

August 21, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Drew Morgan completed a 6-hour, 32-minute spacewalk outside the International Space Station Wednesday to help connect a newly-arrived docking port to the orbiting research outpost.

Spacewalkers attach docking adapter to space station for commercial vehicles

August 19, 2016 William Harwood

Two spacewalkers attached a new docking port to the International Space Station Friday, clearing the way for U.S. crew ferry ships being built by Boeing and SpaceX to begin test flights to the lab complex next year.

Long-awaited station spacewalk on tap Friday

August 18, 2016 William Harwood

Astronauts Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins ventured outside the lab complex Friday for a long-awaited spacewalk to attach a new docking mechanism, the first of two that will be used by U.S. crew ferry ships being built by Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts to and from the outpost, ending NASA’s sole reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Dragon cargo craft reaches port at International Space Station

July 20, 2016 Stephen Clark

A commercial resupply freighter owned and operated by SpaceX wrapped up a two-day trip to the International Space Station on Wednesday, delivering a new docking port and two tons of other equipment to research laboratory more than 250 miles above Earth.

SpaceX sends supplies to space station, lands another Falcon rocket

July 18, 2016 Stephen Clark

Rising into a midnight sky lit by the full moon, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral early Monday with a commercial cargo craft on the way to the International Space Station, then returned to Florida’s Space Coast for a dramatic nighttime landing.

Timeline for SpaceX’s ninth station resupply launch

July 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

Track the major milestones of Monday’s launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with a Dragon cargo craft heading for the International Space Station.

Boeing borrows from inventory to speed docking adapter delivery

May 1, 2016 Stephen Clark

Spare parts warehoused in the the United States and Russia will help Boeing finish assembly of a third space station docking port to receive arriving astronauts aboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsules, replacing a unit lost in a Falcon 9 launch failure last year.

Q&A with Mark Mulqueen, Boeing’s space station program manager

April 24, 2016 Stephen Clark

The International Space Station’s oldest sections launched nearly 17 years ago, and with the huge orbiting research complex now well into its operational life as a microgravity science lab, prime contractor Boeing’s job is keeping the outpost going, according to Mark Mulqueen, who manages the aerospace company’s space station program.

SpaceX failure adds another kink in station supply chain

June 29, 2015 Stephen Clark

Managers in charge of International Space Station say the massive orbiting laboratory and its residents can keep going despite Sunday’s failure of a SpaceX resupply launch, which destroyed a new docking adapter critical to NASA’s commercial crew program, a spacesuit, and a part to repair the lab’s water purification system.

Photos: SpaceX supply ship poised for blastoff

June 28, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, standing 208 feet tall, is mounted on a Cape Canaveral launch pad for liftoff with a fresh package of supplies and research experiments for the International Space Station.