Outer-Space.org

Month: March 2015

  • Soyuz TMA-16M arrives at International Space Station

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    ChrisDMarshall
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    Following a six hour four orbit chase of the International Space Station (ISS) which began with a picture perfect launch this afternoon the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft completed it’s journey with a successful docking. The crews then performed leak checks to ensure the vehicles were correctly linked before opening the hatches allowing Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Korniyenko…

  • ISS One Year Mission begins

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    ChrisDMarshall
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    The first one year mission on the International Space Station begun this afternoon with the launch of the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Following a smooth countdown the three crew members Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Korniyenko of the Russia Federal Space Agency and Scott Kelly of NASA lifted off at 3:42 p.m. EDT. Once…

  • The Little Rover that Could continues to impress

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    ChrisDMarshall
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    Eleven years ago the Mars Opportunity Rover landed on the surface of the planet for a planned 90 sol (Mars day) mission, nearly 4000 sols later the rover is still operating.  This week it achieved a another significant milestone becoming the first rover to complete the equivalent of a marathon driving across the surface of…

  • Delta 4 launches latest GPS satellite

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    ChrisDMarshall
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    In the first of six launches scheduled over the next four days a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 lifted off from Cape Canaveral carrying the latest Global Positioning Satellite (GPS). The satellite is the ninth Block 2F to be launched and was successfully placed into orbit following the on-time launch. Below are some screen…

  • TurkmenSat 1 launch delayed

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    ChrisDMarshall
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    The launch of the TurkmenSat 1 satellite has been delayed due to a problem with the launch vehicle. Originally scheduled for 21st the Falcon 9 static fire test was planned for today. Waiting for word from SpaceX on when the new test will be performed. SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell reported that it was due to helium pressure…

  • Commercial Resupply Contracts 2

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    ChrisDMarshall
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    Last September NASA released a request for proposals (RFP) for a second record of contracts to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) through 2024. The proposals were due by November 14 with the awards expected in May this year. At the time of the RFP both Orbital Sciences (now Orbital ATK) and SpaceX were flying…

  • Beyond ISS – Part Two

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    ChrisDMarshall
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    Last time we talked about using the Bigelow modules for our international space station replacement. Today we are going to take a detailed look at the Bigelow modules specifically the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) which is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year with the SpaceX CRS-8 Dragon launch.  Once…

  • NASA’s MMS mission launched

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    ChrisDMarshall
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    Following a smooth countdown this evening NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) satellites launched aboard a ULA Altas 5.  The MMS mission consists of four spacecraft, that will be deployed into orbit later this evening following the second burn of the centaur, and will then begin to deploy there various instruments to allow them to measure the interaction…

  • Soyuz TMA-14M lands

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    ChrisDMarshall
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    Following the undocking earlier today the three crew members on-board the Soyuz TMA-14M are now back on the earth.  For some reason communication was lost with the vehicle during the initial part of the return, however the tracking site in Egypt confirmed that things were on track once it established communications. Communications were re-established once…

  • Expedition 42 has ended

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    ChrisDMarshall
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    The crew of the Soyuz TMA-14M undocked from the International Space Station today bringing to an end the Expedition 42 mission on the station. Astronaut Barry Wilmore and Cosmonauts Elena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev spent 167 days aboard the station during which time they performed six EVA’s and saw the arrival of three cargo vehicles…