Station | Common News Update

Nov222022 by adminNo Comments

With new supplies, space station astronauts to research mending broken bones

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Nov. 21 (UPI) -- New research on the International Space Station will include implantable drug delivery devices and an adhesive that can stimulate bone growth. SpaceX will launch a resupply mission as early as Tuesday to deliver a payload of items developed by commercial companies that need to be tested in orbit. The launch window opens at 3:54 p.m. EST. It will be the 26th commercial resupply service mission by SpaceX and NASA. The Falcon 9 rocket is to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The space-based research is sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory. The bone-mending injectable adhesive, called Tetranite, was developed by medical device company RevBio. The adhesive is intended to speed bone growth after breaks and fractures. The research will focus on how Tetran...

Jun42021 by adminNo Comments

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches cargo to space station

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., June 3 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched tiny squids, medical experiments and improved solar panels for the International Space Station from Florida on Thursday afternoon. The 7,300-pound cargo mission rose into a mostly cloudy sky aboard a Falcon 9 rocket as planned at 1:29 p.m. EDT from Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Eight minutes after launch, SpaceX recovered the first-stage booster by landing it on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. "We're actually flying a new booster this mission," Sarah Walker, the company's director of mission management for the Dragon capsule, said at a press conference Wednesday. "This is the 17th mission that SpaceX has launched just in this front half of 2021 ... and the first one that's on a new booster." SpaceX reuses first-stage ...

Mar312021 by adminNo Comments

Nevada company plans space station with inflatable pods

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ORLANDO, Fla., March 31 (UPI) -- Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. plans to launch a commercial space station with inflatable human habitats within seven years, the company announced in a press conference Wednesday. Sierra Nevada already has seven NASA contracts to launch its Dream Chaser spaceplane, which is being developed to fly cargo to the International Space Station starting in 2022. Advertisement Now, the firm said it aims to have its own orbiting habitat in space before NASA retires the space station around 2028. The company's orbiting space station has no name yet, but it would consist of inflatable sections connected by hardware, said Janet Kavandi, a former astronaut and an executive vice president of Sierra Nevada, during the press conference at company facilities in Littleton,...

Mar192021 by adminNo Comments

Astronauts test virus-killing substance in space station

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ORLANDO, Fla., March 19 (UPI) -- Astronauts on the International Space Station are testing surface coatings intended to kill viruses and germs, including the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The test for The Boeing Co. has astronaut Shannon Walker touch a dozen coated items daily -- like seatbelt buckles and plastic and cloth samples -- to transfer microbes commonly found on humans to them. Advertisement After six months in space, the items will return to Earth in early May, where researchers will determine how the microbes fared on the treated surfaces. NASA already has determined from previous experiments that microbes, especially bacteria, grow more readily in the microgravity of orbit. Boeing hasn't revealed exactly what the surface coating is, but a spokesman confirmed that it is a...

Mar72021 by adminNo Comments

Astronauts conclude spacewalk maintenance on International Space Station

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ORLANDO, Fla., March 5 (UPI) -- Astronauts Kate Rubins and Soichi Noguchi completed a spacewalk Friday of 6 hours, 56 minutes to perform maintenance on the exterior of the International Space Station. Rubins, of NASA, and Noguchi, of the Japanese Space Agency, installed a device on an airlock cover to prevent it from blowing out when a hatch is opened. The two also attached new apparatus that will hold upgraded solar panels when they are installed over the summer. Advertisement The outing was the fourth career spacewalk for both Rubins and Noguchi and the 236th spacewalk at the space station. Rubins reported a pinpoint abrasion on one of her gloves after several hours in space. She was concerned enough to stay close to Noguchi after the discovery, but her spacesuit didn't leak. Rubins, 4...