Новости МКС

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NORAD зарегистрировал 7 объектов пакетного запуска 25-26 мая с.г., при этом определился с 6-ю объектами:
 
TLE на объекты пока не опубликованы.

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/new-nasa-mission-to-study-mysterious-neutron-stars-aid-in-deep-space-navigation

May 26, 2017

New NASA Mission to Study Mysterious Neutron Stars, Aid in Deep Space Navigation

A new NASA mission is headed for the International Space Station next month to observe one of the strangest observable objects in the universe.

Launching June 1, the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) will be installed aboard the space station as the first mission dedicated to studying neutron stars, a type of collapsed star that is so dense scientists are unsure how matter behaves deep inside it.

A neutron star begins its life as a star between about seven and 20 times the mass of our sun. When this type of star runs out of fuel, it collapses under its own weight, crushing its core and triggering a supernova explosion. What remains is an ultra-dense sphere only about 12 miles (20 kilometers) across, the size of a city, but with up to twice the mass of our sun squeezed inside. On Earth, one teaspoon of neutron star matter would weigh a billion tons.

Спойлер

"If you took Mount Everest and squeezed it into something like a sugar cube, that's the kind of density we're talking about," said Keith Gendreau, the principal investigator for NICER at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Though we know neutron stars are small and extremely dense, there are still many aspects of these remnants of explosive deaths of other stars that we have yet to understand. NICER, a facility to be mounted on the outside of the International Space Station, seeks to find the answers to some of the questions still being asked about neutron stars. By capturing the arrival time and energy of the X-ray photons produced by pulsars emitted by neutron stars, NICER seeks to answer decades-old questions about extreme forms of matter and energy. Data fr om NICER will also be used in SEXTANT, an on-board demonstration of pulsar-based navigation.
Credits: NASA's Johnson Space Center

Because neutron stars are so dense, scientists are uncertain how matter behaves in their interiors. In everyday experience, objects are composed of atoms. When neutron stars form, their atoms become crushed together and merge. As a result, the bulk of a neutron star is made up of tightly packed subatomic particles — primarily neutrons, as well as protons and electrons, in various states. NICER measurements will help scientists better understand how matter behaves in this environment.

"As soon as you go below the surface of a neutron star, the pressures and densities rise extremely rapidly, and soon you're in an environment that you can't produce in any lab on Earth," said Columbia University research scientist Slavko Bogdanov, who leads the NICER light curve modeling group.

The only object known to be denser than a neutron star is its dark cousin, the black hole. A black hole forms when a star more than approximately 20 times the mass of our sun collapses. A black hole's powerful gravity establishes a barrier known as an event horizon, which prevents direct observation. So scientists turn to neutron stars to study matter at nature's most extreme observable limit.

"Neutron stars represent a natural density limit for stable matter that you can't exceed without becoming a black hole," said Goddard's Zaven Arzoumanian, NICER deputy principal investigator and science lead. "We don't know what happens to matter near this maximum density."

In order to study this limit, NICER will observe rapidly rotating neutron stars, also known as pulsars. These stars can rotate hundreds of times per second, faster than the blades of a household blender. Pulsars also possess enormously strong magnetic fields, trillions of times stronger than Earth's. The combination of fast rotation and strong magnetism accelerates particles to nearly the speed of light. Some of these particles follow the magnetic field to the surface, raining down on the magnetic poles and heating them until they form so-called hot spots that glow brightly in X-ray light.

"NICER is designed to see the X-ray emission from those hot spots," Arzoumanian said. "As the spots sweep toward us, we see more intensity as they move into our sightline and less as they move out, brightening and dimming hundreds of times each second."

A neutron star's gravity is so strong it warps space-time, the fabric of the cosmos, distorting our view of the star's surface and its sweeping hot spots. NICER will measure brightness changes related to these distortions as the star spins. This will allow scientists to determine the pulsar's radius, a key measurement needed to fully understand its interior structure.

"Once we have a measure of the mass and radius, we can tie those results directly into the nuclear physics of what goes on when you compress so much mass into such a small volume," Arzoumanian said.
 


In addition to understanding how neutron stars are put together, NICER's observations will also help scientists better understand the critical mass a star must achieve before it can turn into a black hole. This is particularly important in systems wh ere neutron stars orbit another star, allowing them to pull material off the companion star and gain more mass.

"The more neutron stars we observe at high masses, the higher the mass threshold becomes for a star turning into a black hole," said NICER science team member Alice Harding at Goddard. "Understanding what that critical mass is will help us determine how many black holes and neutron stars there are in the universe."

NICER will also provide scientists and technologists with a unique opportunity to make advances in deep space navigation. Its X-ray measurements will record the arrival times of pulses from each neutron star it observes, using the regular emissions of pulsars as ultra-precise cosmic clocks, rivaling the accuracy of atomic clocks such as those used inside GPS satellites. Built-in flight software — developed for the Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT) demonstration — can see how the predicted arrival of X-ray pulses from a given neutron star changes as NICER moves in its orbit. The difference between expected and actual arrival times allows SEXTANT to determine NICER's orbit solely by observing pulsars.

Although spacecraft in Earth orbit use the same GPS system that helps drivers navigate on the ground, there's no equivalent system available for spacecraft traveling far beyond Earth.

"Unlike GPS satellites, which just orbit around Earth, pulsars are distributed across our galaxy," said Jason Mitchell, the SEXTANT project manager at Goddard. "So we can use them to form a GPS-like system that can support spacecraft navigation throughout the solar system, enabling deep-space exploration in the future."

Installation on the space station provides scientists and technologists with an opportunity to develop a multi-purpose mission on an established platform.

"With the NICER-SEXTANT mission, we have an excellent opportunity to use the International Space Station to demonstrate technology that will lead us into the outer solar system and beyond, and tell us about some of the most exciting objects in the sky," Gendreau said.

NICER is an Astrophysics Mission of Opportunity within NASA's Explorer program, which provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space utilizing innovative, streamlined and efficient management approaches within the heliophysics and astrophysics science areas. NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate supports the SEXTANT component of the mission, demonstrating pulsar-based spacecraft navigation.

Related Links

[/li]
• NASA's NICER mission website
• More information on SEXTANT
• Download NICER-SEXTANT multimedia resources
  

By Claire Saravia
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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Last Updated: May 26, 2017
Editor: Rob Garner

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tnt22 пишет:
TLE на объекты пока не опубликованы.

NORAD опубликовал наборы TLE на объекты 42721÷42727

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https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/wklysumm_week_of_22may17.html

May 26, 2017

Weekly Recap From the Expedition Lead Scientist

Спойлер

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet works on the airlock in the Japanese Experiment Module, which is used to move investigations outside the International Space Station.
Credits: NASA


CubeSats that are part of the the QB50 constellation of CubeSats provided by countries from around the world are deployed from the NanoRacks CubeSat deployer. The constellation aims to study the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere over a period of 1 to 2 years.
Credits: NASA

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(Highlights: Week of May 22, 2017) - An unscheduled spacewalk on the International Space Station to replace a failed piece of critical command and control hardware delayed some planned investigations. However, right after the spacewalk ended, crew members picked right back up on the science timeline.

Спойлер

One of the investigations was in human research, as crew members drew blood for the Cardiac and Vessel Structure and Function with Long-Duration Space Flight and Recovery (Vascular Echo) study. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) investigation examines the changes in blood vessels and the heart while crew members are in space, and follows their recovery after returning to Earth.

As humans get older on Earth, arteries can stiffen, which causes an increase in blood pressure, elevating the risk of heart disease. Physicians have observed that crew members returning from the space station also have much stiffer arteries than before they went into space. The Vascular Echo investigation aims to give researchers a better understanding of the changes in the cardiovascular system, which may provide insight into potential countermeasures to maintain health in space and on Earth.

Ground teams commanded operations for the Combustion Integration Rack (CIR) on the space station in support of the Cool Flames Investigation. Some types of fuels initially burn very hot, then appear to go out — but they continue burning at a much lower temperature with no visible flames. These phenomena are called cool flames. Understanding cool flame combustion could help scientists develop new engines and fuels that are more efficient and less harmful to the environment. The Cool Flames Investigation provides new insight into this phenomenon, as well as new data on fire safety in space.

Crew members also collected samples for the Biochemical Profile (Biochem Profile) investigation. The astronauts study themselves to learn how the human body reacts to long-duration spaceflight. Biochem Profile tests bodily fluid samples obtained from astronauts before, during and after spaceflight. Specific proteins and chemicals in the samples are used as biomarkers, or indicators of health. Post-flight analysis yields a database of samples and test results, which scientists can use to study the effects of spaceflight on the body. Establishing a chemical profile of the body's response to spaceflight will help scientists understand how different systems in the body interact in microgravity in different groups of people. Scientists can also test the effectiveness of possible countermeasures like exercise and nutrition and their effects on crew health during long-duration exploration missions.

An improved understanding of the biochemical effects of microgravity could help patients with limited mobility on Earth, such as those on bed rest. Understanding how various physiological systems respond and interact to changing gravity conditions could help physicians design different treatments or exercises for people with limited mobility.

Progress was made on other investigations, outreach activities, and facilities this week, including Cardio Ox, NanoRack CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD), Radi-N, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ISS Ham Radio (ARISS)), Light Microscopy Module Biophysics, Fine Motor Skills, Passive Thermal Flight Experiment, OsteoOmics, Body Measures, Dose Tracker, and Marrow.
 

NASA's Space to Ground is a weekly update on what is happening on the International Space Station. Social media users can post with #spacetoground to ask questions or make a comment.
Credits: NASA

Jorge Sotomayor, Lead Increment Scientist
Expeditions 51 & 52

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Last Updated: May 26, 2017
Editor: Kristine Rainey

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NASA‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASA 2 ч. назад

For a year, @BigelowSpace's #BEAM expandable habitat has provided a new way of looking at living quarters in space: http://go.nasa.gov/2rqc8An 

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/first-year-of-beam-demo-offers-valuable-data-on-expandable-habitats

May 26, 2017

First Year of BEAM Demo Offers Valuable Data on Expandable Habitats

Halfway into its planned two-year demonstration attached to the International Space Station, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, is showing that soft materials can perform as well as rigid materials for habitation volumes in space. The BEAM was launched and attached to station through a partnership between NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Division (AES) and Bigelow Aerospace, headquartered in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

NASA and Bigelow are primarily evaluating characteristics directly related to the module's ability to protect humans from the harsh space environment. Astronauts aboard station work with researchers on the ground to monitor the module's structural integrity, thermal stability, and resistance to space debris, radiation, and microbial growth.

Спойлер

Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, continually analyze data from internal sensors designed to monitor and locate external impacts by orbital debris, and, as expected, have recorded a few probable micrometeoroid debris impacts so far. BEAM has performed as designed in preventing debris penetration with multiple outer protective layers exceeding space station shielding requirements.


Astronauts aboard the space station 3-D printed a shield to cover one of the two Radiation Environment Monitors inside the BEAM. The shield, the white hemispherical shape at the center of the photograph, is shown above inside the BEAM module. In the coming months, the crew will print successively thicker shields to determine the shielding effectiveness at blocking radiation.
Credits: NASA

Over the next several months, NASA and Bigelow will focus on measuring radiation dosage inside the BEAM. Using two active Radiation Environment Monitors (REM) inside the module, researchers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston are able to take real-time measurements of radiation levels. They have found that Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) dose rates inside the BEAM are similar to other space station modules, and continue to analyze contributions to the daily dose from the Earth's trapped radiation belts to better understand the shielding properties of the module for application to long-term missions. The space station and the BEAM enjoy a significant amount of protection from Earth's magnetosphere. Future deep space missions will be far more exposed to energized radiation particles speeding through the solar system, so NASA is actively working on ways to mitigate the effects of radiation events.

In late April, NASA's radiation researchers at Johnson began a multi-month BEAM radiation experiment by installing a .04 inch (1.1 mm) thick shield onto one of the two REM sensors in BEAM. The station crew produced a hemispherical shield using the 3-D printer on the space station, and in the next few months this first shield will be replaced by two successively thicker shields, also 3-D printed, with thicknesses of about .13 inches (3.3mm) and .4 inches (10mm), respectively. The difference in measurements from the two REMs—one with a shield and one without—will help better resolve the energy spectra of the trapped radiation particles, particularly those coming from the South Atlantic Anomaly.

Space station crew members have entered the BEAM nine times since its expansion in May 2016. In addition to the REM shielding experiment activities, the crew has swapped out passive radiation badges called Radiation Area Monitors and they routinely collect microbial air and surface samples. These badges and samples are sent back to Earth for standard microbial and radiation analysis at Johnson.

The BEAM technology demonstration is helping NASA to advance and learn about expandable space habitat technology in low-Earth orbit for application toward future human exploration missions. The partnership between NASA and Bigelow supports NASA's objective to develop a deep space habitat for human missions beyond Earth orbit while fostering commercial capabilities for non-government applications.

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Last Updated: May 26, 2017
Editor: Erin Mahoney

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NORAD зарегистрировал остальные 10 объектов (42728÷42737) пакетного запуска 25-26 мая с.г.(определился со всеми 10-ю объектами):

TLE на объекты пока не опубликованы.

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tnt22 пишет:
TLE на объекты пока не опубликованы.

NORAD опубликовал наборы TLE на объекты 42728÷42737

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А это первые китайские спутники выведенные с МКС?

 http://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/news/34087/
28.05.2017
С МКС запущены 17 спутников
Новая партия наноспутников была запущена 25-26 мая 2017 г. с борта МКС (модуль Kibo, пусковое устройство NRCSD-12).
...
Китайский спутник NJUST создан в Нанкинском университете. Также предназначен для отработки новых технологий и изучения земной атмосферы. Масса 2 кг.
Китайский спутник LilacSat предназначен для образовательных целей и для использования радиолюбителями. Его масса 2 кг.
Китайский спутник Aoxiang-1 создан в Политехническом университете Северо-западного Китая. Предназначен для отработки новых технологий и образовательных задач, а также для использования радиолюбителями. Масса 2 кг.
....
Все КА были доставлены на борт МКС в апреле нынешнего года грузовым кораблем Cygnus CRS-7 'John Glenn'.

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Thomas Pesquet‏Подлинная учетная запись @Thom_astro 6 мин назад

I've been experimenting a bit with cameras... here is my Frankenstein creation!

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Jack Fischer‏Подлинная учетная запись @Astro2fish 8 ч. назад

We went big last night for dinner – space burgers... You have to be a bit creative, & EVERYONE has their own recipe, but they sure are yummy!

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http://spaceflight101.com/dragon-spx11/falcon-9-completes-static-fire-ahead-of-dragon-spx11/

Falcon 9 checks off Static Fire Test ahead of First Dragon Re-Use Mission to ISS
May 29, 2017

...

Falcon 9 is targeting liftoff at 21:55 UTC on Thursday for a ten-minute ride into orbit with the Dragon SpX-11 spacecraft headed to the International Space Station with nearly 2.8 metric tons of cargo for the orbiting laboratory, including three large external payloads and a group of 40 mice that will participate in a drug study looking at bone mass restoration in space – a potential breakthrough for future space flights and osteoporosis treatment on Earth.

Спойлер

The Dragon SpX-11 mission will see the first re-flight of a Dragon capsule as SpaceX looks to close down the Dragon 1 production line to fully focus on the Dragon 2 spacecraft that will carry crews to the Space Station as early as next year and take over cargo missions from the original Dragons when NASA's Commercial Resupply Services 2 flights begin after SpX-20.

...


NASA Mission Patch – Credit: NASA

Lowered to a horizontal position, Falcon 9 returns to the Integration Facility for the installation of the Dragon spacecraft that is already holding most of the cargo it will deliver to the Space Station. A number of late load items such as time-critical experiments and fresh food for the crew will be loaded inside 24 hours to launch via Dragon's late cargo load feature, allowing items to be placed into the vehicle through a mobile white room rolled up to the launch pad.

The two Rodent Transporters, hosting a total of 40 mice, plus a Fruit Fly Lab are part of the late cargo load as only two of several dozen experiments supported by the SpX-11 mission.

Pending an on-time liftoff Thursday afternoon, Dragon will be inbound to ISS on June 4 in a mission choreographed around the planned June 2 homecoming of the Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft with ISS crew members Oleg Novitskiy and Thomas Pesquet. Return of the Dragon is currently planned for July 2 via a parachute-assisted splashdown landing in the Pacific Ocean.
...

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[Salo]

https://www.roscosmos.ru/23588/

УЧЕНЫЕ РОСКОСМОСА. НОВАЯ ВЕРХНЯЯ ГРАНИЦА БИОСФЕРЫ ЗЕМЛИ
29.05.2017 14:54

 

   На орбите Международной космической станции (МКС) (высота около 400 километров) обнаружены жизнеспособные споры и фрагменты ДНК микроорганизмов, устойчивые к неблагоприятным факторам космоса. На основании результатов космических экспериментов, проводимых с 2010 по 2016 год, специалисты ведущего отраслевого научного института ЦНИИмаш (входит в Госкорпорацию «РОСКОСМОС») совместно с учеными ведущих научных учреждений России обосновали необходимость установления новой верхней границы биосферы Земли.

    

   В рамках космического эксперимента (КЭ) «Тест» космонавты РОСКОСМОСА собрали 19 проб космической пыли с поверхности МКС во время выходов в открытый космос. Исследования проб космической пыли с МКС дважды показали наличие в образцах представителей родов Mycobacteria и Delftia; семейства Comamonadaceae порядка Burkholderiales, которые являются представителями типичных наземных и морских родов бактерий.

    

   Статистика обнаружения жизнеспособных единиц споровых бактерий (рода Bacillus) и спор грибов (рода Aureobasidium) в проведенных сеансах КЭ «Тест» составляет около 45%. Применение высокочувствительных молекулярных методов позволило в 70% случаев не только выявить фрагменты ДНК геномов различных микроорганизмов, но определить их тип. Так, в экспериментах разных лет были выявлены фрагменты: ДНК Mycobacteria как маркера гетеротрофного морского бактериопланктона, обитающего в Баренцевом море; ДНК экстремофильной бактерии Delftria; ДНК бактерий, близких по своей первичной структуре к бактериям, выявленным в пробах почвы острова Мадагаскар; ДНК растительных геномов; ДНК архебактерий (присутствует практически во всех пробах) и ДНК грибов Erythrobasidium и Cystobasidium.

    

   В результате, полученные экспериментальные данные о химическом составе проб мелкодисперсной осадочной среды на поверхности МКС, позволили сделать вывод о геохимическом составе космической пыли на высоте 400 км над поверхностью Земли и его источниках. По мнению ученых, это доказывает гипотезу о внешнем тропосферном источнике живых организмов и позволяет предполагать возможность переноса аэрозольного вещества из тропосферы на высоты ионосферы. Кроме того, результаты исследования подтверждают гипотезу о существовании механизма «ионосферного лифта», осуществляющего перенос тропосферного аэрозоля с поверхности Земли в верхнюю ионосферу. Это означает, что воздействие аэрозоля на климат не ограничивается известными эффектами в тропосфере и стратосфере.

    

   Полученные экспериментальные данные являются важнейшим фактическим материалом для исследования механизма рассеивания биокосмозоля из биосферы Земли в космическое пространство и представляют большой интерес для дальнейшего системного изучения физико-химических свойств космической пыли, выявления «зон влияния», изучения космозолей планет в астрономии, биологии и науке о Земле. Также результаты эксперимента дают материал для решения перспективных задач по защите космических аппаратов при межпланетных полетах и проектировании напланетных станций.

    

   Кроме специалистов ЦНИИмаш, наряду ПАО РКК «Энергия» им. С.П. Королёва в эксперименте «Тест» принимают ученые ГНЦ РФ-ИМБП РАН, ФГБУ НИИ вирусологии имени Д.И. Ивановского, РУДН и ОИВТ РАН.

[tnt22]

New eyes


European Space Agency, ESA

Опубликовано: 28 мая 2017 г.

Thomas Pesquet reflects on living on the International Space Station after his six-month Proxima mission. Beyond science and technology the voyage often reveals more than the destination. A message for all humans.

As Marcel Proust wrote in his book The Prisoner: "The only true voyage of discovery, ... would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is."

The footage was shot with the Space Station's highest resolution camera at resolutions between 4K and 6K and available here in Ultra High Definition (3840x2160 pixels). Download the full high-resolution file from ESA's video archive: ///INS ERT LINK ///

During Proxima, Thomas performed around 50 scientific experiments for ESA and France's space agency CNES as well as take part in many research activities for the other Station partners.

The mission is part of ESA's vision to use Earth-orbiting spacecraft as a place to live and work for the benefit of European society while using the experience to prepare for future voyages of exploration further in to the Solar System.

(1:59)

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Thomas Pesquet‏Подлинная учетная запись @Thom_astro 9 ч. назад

Séances de réalité virtuelle pour l'expérience GRASP qui teste les réactions du cerveau à des repères visuels en microgravité... Déconcertant!



8 ч. назад

Last week we ran the Grasp experiment with a #VR headset to test how brains interpret visual cues without gravity – disconcerting but fun!

CNES и ISS Research

Gravitational References for Sensimotor Performance: Reaching and Grasping (GRASP) - 05.10.17

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Thomas Pesquet‏Подлинная учетная запись @Thom_astro 4 ч. назад

Vérification des scaphandres et du Soyouz... l'heure du retour sur terre approche !! #Proxima



1 ч. назад

We've tested our spacesuits & spacecraft: everything is A-OK. @AstroPeggy is staying an extra few months to return with @Astro2fish & Fyodor

[tnt22]

https://www.roscosmos.ru/23539/

ПОСАДКА СПУСКАЕМОГО АППАРАТА ТПК «СОЮЗ МС-03»
2 июня 2017

Программа МКС

2 июня 2017 года запланирована посадка спускаемого аппарата транспорного пилотируемого корабля «Союз МС-03» с экипажем длительной экспедиции МКС-50-51 Олегом НОВИЦКИМ (РОСКОСМОС) и Тома ПЕСКЕ (ESA).

Закрытие переходных люков между ТПК «Союз МС-03» и МКС (стыковочный узел модуля «Рассвет») -  10:30 - 11:00 мск (трансляция на сайте online.roscosmos.ru)
Расстыковка корабля от модуля «Рассвет» МКС - 13:50 мкс.
Приземление СА ТПК «Союз МС-03»  - 17:10 мск. (трансляция на сайте online.roscosmos.ru)

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На сегодня, 2017-05-30, запланированы две трансляции НАСА с участием астронавтов Т. Песке и Дж. Фишера

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

 

[tnt22]

Поздравления с орбиты!

РОСКОСМОС ПОЗДРАВЛЯЕТ АЛЕКСЕЯ ЛЕОНОВА!
 

ROSCOSMOS Media Store

Опубликовано: 30 мая 2017 г.

30 мая 2017 года легендарный космонавт Алексей ЛЕОНОВ отмечает 83-ю годовщину со дня рождения.

(1:38 )

[tnt22]

Thomas Pesquet‏Подлинная учетная запись @Thom_astro 2 ч. назад

Suivi de la pression exercée sur les yeux et le cerveau avec l'expérience Fluidshifts: l'impesanteur ne ménage pas le corps! #tuesdayscience




1 ч. назад

Working on the Fluid Shifts experiment to see how our eye and brain pressure changes. For scientists, more data the better! #tuesdayscience

[tnt22]

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2017/05/30/station-duo-ready-to-depart-station-before-dragons-arrival/

Station Duo Ready to Depart Station Before Dragon's Arrival

Posted on May 30, 2017 at 4:47 pm by Mark Garcia.


NASA astronaut Jack Fischer works inside the cupola with the Soyuz and Cygnus spaceships right outside the windows.

The International Space Station is preparing this week for the departure of two Expedition 51 crew members and the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon.

Expedition 52 will begin Friday morning when two Expedition 51 crew members depart the station inside the Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft. Cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and astronaut Thomas Pesquet will return to Earth and parachute to landing in Kazakhstan after a 196-day mission in space.

NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer along with cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin will continue their stay aboard the orbital complex. Whitson will hand over station command to Yurchikhin the day before the Expedition 51 crew leaves.

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Dragon is due to launch Thursday at 5:55 p.m. EDT atop a Falcon 9 rocket for a three-day trip to the space station. NASA astronaut Jack Fischer will command the Canadarm2 to grapple Dragon when it arrives Sunday morning. Afterward, robotics controllers on the ground will remotely install Dragon to the Harmony module.

Dragon is hauling nearly 6,000 pounds of cargo to the station including new science payloads, crew supplies, vehicle hardware, spacewalk equipment and computer gear. Three new experiments are being delivered for installation on the station's exterior. The external research gear will study flexible solar arrays, the physics of neutron stars and new ways to assist with navigation, agriculture, emergency response and petroleum exploration.

This entry was posted in Expedition 51 and tagged cygnus, dragon, European Space Agency, International Space Station, NASA, Orbital ATK, Roscosmos, Soyuz, spacex on May 30, 2017 by Mark Garcia.

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