[Spacetalk] http://www.nasa.gov

Tue Dec 8 03:18:23 CST 2015

good morning all…
 I’ll be on my way to the airport in a little while…..what an amazing time….I can never thank everyone enough for what we shared…for the thousands of kids who opened their hearts to me, for the wonderful friends in Norway and Denmark who let me stay at their home, took me around, made all the arrangements, and did everything possible to make my visit enjoyable…I am truly grateful…well, most of you know as I leave for the AP in about 30 minutes, it is time for me to pack….LOL...we have to remember to always do our best, enjoy everything we do, live in the present, make each day special, let those we care about most know, smile & have fun…gabe

Earth in Full View
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The Apollo 17 crew caught this breathtaking view of our home planet as they were traveling to the Moon on Dec. 7, 1972. It's the first time astronauts were able to photograph the South polar ice cap. Nearly the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible, along with the Arabian Peninsula.

NASA to Televise Return of Three Space Station Crew Members
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Expedition 45 Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will return Dec. 11 from a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
Credits: NASA
NASA Television will provide complete coverage Friday, Dec. 11 of the departure of three crew members from the International Space Station and their return to Earth beginning at 1 a.m. EST.

Expedition 45 Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will undock their Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft from the space station at 4:49 a.m. The crew members will land in Kazakhstan at 8:12 a.m. (7:12 p.m. Kazakhstan time). Their return will wrap up 141 days in space since their launch in late July.

Activities and NASA TV coverage are as follows:
1 a.m. - Farewell and hatch closure coverage (hatch closure scheduled at 1:25 a.m.)
4:30 a.m. - Undocking coverage (undocking scheduled at 4:49 a.m.)
7 a.m. - Deorbit burn and landing coverage (deorbit burn scheduled at 7:19 a.m., with landing at 8:12 a.m.)
10 a.m. - Video file of hatch closure, undocking and landing activities
9 p.m. - Video file of landing and post-landing activities and post-landing interviews with Lindgren and Yui in Kazakhstan

At the time of undocking, Expedition 46 will begin aboard the station under the continued command of NASA astronaut Scott Kelly. Along with his crewmates Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos, the three-person crew will operate the station for four days until the arrival of three new crew members. NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Tim Peake of ESA (European Space Agency) are scheduled to launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on Tuesday, Dec. 15.

Kelly and Kornienko are spending one year in space <http://www.nasa.gov/content/one-year-crew>, twice the typical mission duration, to provide researchers the opportunity to advance their knowledge of the medical, psychological and biomedical challenges faced by astronauts during long-duration spaceflight.
For the NASA TV streaming video and schedule, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv <http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv>
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station <http://www.nasa.gov/station>

NASA Cargo Launches to Space Station Aboard Orbital ATK Resupply Mission
New hardware that will support dozens of NASA investigations and other science experiments from around the world is among the more than 7,000 pounds of cargo on the way to the International Space Station aboard Orbital ATK's Cygnus spacecraft. It launched at 4:44:57 p.m. EST Sunday on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. “NASA is delighted at the continued progress made possible by our investment in commercial space,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman. “As we celebrate Orbital ATK’s success with its fourth cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, we look forward to the next milestones of our other commercial partners, including commercial crew launches from American soil in the near future. All these missions are critical to our journey to Mars – a journey we have already begun.”

 <http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/oa-4-launch-3g.jpg>
The Atlas V launch vehicle lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying a Cygnus resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station. Liftoff was at 4:44 p.m. EST. Science payloads include experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids and clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel; and evaluations of flame-resistant textiles.
Credits: NASA
The mission is Orbital ATK's fourth cargo delivery flight to the station through NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. This is the first flight of an enhanced Cygnus spacecraft to the station. The cargo freighter now features a greater payload capacity, new UltraFlex solar arrays and new fuel tanks. Cygnus’ pressurized cargo module has been extended and increases the spacecraft’s interior volume capacity by 25 percent, allowing more cargo to be delivered with each mission. It’s also the first Cygnus mission using the Atlas V launch system.

Science payloads will support science and research investigations that will occur during the space station’s Expeditions 45 and 46, including experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science -- research that impacts life on Earth. Investigations will offer a new life science facility that will support studies on cell cultures, bacteria and other microorganisms, a microsatellite deployer and the first microsatellite that will be deployed from the space station, and experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids and clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel and evaluations of flame-resistant textiles.

The Space Automated Bioproduct Lab is a new space life science facility that is designed to support a wide variety of fundamental, applied and commercial space life sciences research, as well as education-based investigations for students from kindergarten through university. The facility will support research on microorganisms, such as bacteria, yeast, algae, fungi, and viruses, as well as animal cells and tissues and small plant and animal organisms. NanoRacks-MicroSat-SIMPL is a modular, hyper integrated satellite designed to provide complete satellite functionality in a nanosatellite scale. It will be the first NanoRacks microsatellite deployed from the space station and the first propulsion-capable satellite deployed from the NanoRacks-MicroSat-Deployer known as Kaber. The commercial deployer system aims to address the growing market of customers wanting to deploy microsatellites in orbit.

The Packed Bed Reactor Experiment studies the behavior of gases and liquids when they flow simultaneously through a column filled with fixed porous media, which is of interest in many chemical and biological processing systems, as well as numerous geophysical applications.
BASS-M (Burning and Suppression of Solids – Milliken) will evaluate flame retardant and resistant textiles as a mode of personal protection from fire-related hazards. Studying flame retardant and resistant behavior of different materials in microgravity will aid in better designs for future textiles and benefit those who wear protective clothing, such as military personnel and civilian workers in the electrical and energy industries.
The Nodes satellites, sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and developed by the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, consist of two CubeSats weighing 4.5 pounds each and measuring 4 inches by 4 inches by 6.5 inches. They are an example of how technology drives innovation, as they will test new network capabilities for operating swarms of spacecraft in the future.
In addition, Cygnus will deliver replacement cargo items including a set of Microsoft HoloLens devices for use in NASA’s Sidekick project <https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-microsoft-collaborate-to-bring-science-fiction-to-science-fact>, a safety jet pack astronauts wear during spacewalks known as SAFER, and high pressure nitrogen and oxygen tanks <https://www.nasa.gov/content/air-supply-high-pressure-tanks-ready-for-space-station> to plug into the station’s air supply network.

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NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, from his vantage point aboard the International Space Station, photographed the launch of Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Credits: NASA
Cygnus will be grappled at approximately 6:10 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 9, by NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, using the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to take hold of the spacecraft. Scott Kelly of NASA will support Lindgren in a backup position. The spacecraft will spend more than a month attached to the space station before its destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, disposing of about 3,000 pounds of trash.

The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. The space station has been continuously occupied since November 2000. In that time, it has been visited by more than 200 people and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The space station remains the springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration, including future missions to an asteroid and Mars.

For more information about Orbital ATK's mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/orbitalatk <http://www.nasa.gov/orbitalatk>
For more information about the International Space Station, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station <http://www.nasa.gov/station>

Morning Aurora From the Space Station
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NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly <https://twitter.com/StationCDRKelly/status/651725276498526209>) captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station on Oct. 7, 2015. Sharing with his social media followers, Kelly wrote, "The daily morning dose of #aurora to help wake you up. #GoodMorning from @Space_Station! #YearInSpace"

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