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Sun Oct 18 08:19:45 CDT 2020

Hi all,

 This week is a very special for NASA…a probe will collect a sample from the asteroid Bennu on Tuesday…the mission was launched in September, 2016…now set to get a sample and return it to earth in 2023…I hope you will follow along on this amazing touch and go collection on the 20th….always so much going on…new astronauts arriving on the ISS and others departing after 6 months, supply ships arriving and departing…numerous Space X missions….we are able to see so many launches here…to keep up with the latest, go to the subject links...We have to remember to do our best, enjoy everything we do, believe in ourselves, and let those we care about most know (I always say this, we all need to take it to heart) …hugs & smiles... :-) :-) STAY SAFE, TAKE CARE, Love ya, Gabe

OSIRIS-REx ASTEROID SAMPLE COLLECTION 

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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission readies itself to touch the surface of asteroid Bennu.
Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

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NASA will broadcast coverage of a first for the agency as its Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission attempts to collect a sample of asteroid Bennu on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6:12 p.m. EDT. Live coverage of the spacecraft’s descent to the asteroid’s surface for its “Touch-And-Go,” or TAG, maneuver, which will be managed by Lockheed Martin Space near Denver, will begin at 5 p.m. on NASA Television (nasa.gov/nasatv) and the agency’s website <https://www.nasa.gov/live>. Beginning with an orbit departure maneuver around 1:50 p.m., the full sequence of the complicated engineering feat will be covered on @OSIRISREx <https://twitter.com/OSIRISREx>, and media and the public can ask questions using the hashtag #ToBennuandBack.

OSIRIS-REx, which is about the size of a 15-passenger van, is currently orbiting the asteroid Bennu 200 million miles from Earth. Bennu contains material from the early solar system and may contain the molecular precursors to life and Earth’s oceans. The asteroid is about as tall as the Empire State Building and could potentially threaten Earth late in the next century, with a 1‐in‐2,700 chance of impacting our planet during one of its close approaches. OSIRIS-REx is now ready to take a sample of this ancient relic of our solar system and bring its stories and secrets home to Earth.

A full schedule of coverage is available at https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-broadcast-osiris-rex-asteroid-sample-collection-activities <https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-broadcast-osiris-rex-asteroid-sample-collection-activities>
Ten things toknow about the asteroid:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/bennu-top-ten <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/bennu-top-ten>
For more information on the OSIRIS-REx mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex <https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex>

Soyuz crew launches on 'ultrafast' two-orbit flight to space station
In photos: The Expedition 63 mission to the International Space Station <https://www.space.com/space-station-expedition-63-mission-photos.html>

https://www.space.com/soyuz-makes-fastest-space-station-crew-flight-record?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9155&utm_content=SDC_Newsletter+&utm_term=2868862&m_i=xugHdYCHyIYD%2BSCijUmFI5_F2_HSbuGdllZxhkVH38CME9oVk_39FUyG%2BK37qM986aObDR7p35d08aklb%2BSPFpbItPG6PGeN2OjwFIgxxj <https://www.space.com/soyuz-makes-fastest-space-station-crew-flight-record?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9155&utm_content=SDC_Newsletter+&utm_term=2868862&m_i=xugHdYCHyIYD+SCijUmFI5_F2_HSbuGdllZxhkVH38CME9oVk_39FUyG+K37qM986aObDR7p35d08aklb+SPFpbItPG6PGeN2OjwFIgxxj> 

Russia’s Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft launches with Kate Rubins of NASA and Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos for the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Oct. 14, 2020. (Image credit: Roscosmos)
An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts have launched to the International Space Station <https://www.space.com/16748-international-space-station.html> just ahead of and to extend 20 years of a continuous human presence in Earth orbit.
Kate Rubins of NASA, together with Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos, lifted off on Russia's Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft <http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-101420a-soyuz-ms17-launch.html> from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday (Oct. 14). Their launch, atop a Soyuz-2.1a rocket, began at 1:45 a.m. EDT (0545 GMT; 10:45 a.m. local Kazakh time).

The three crewmates are docked their Soyuz <https://www.space.com/40951-soyuz-spacecraft.html> at the station's Rassvet module at 4:48 a.m. EDT (0848 GMT) after a two-orbit rendezvous, wrapping up a three-hour, three-minute trip <https://www.space.com/soyuz-makes-fastest-space-station-crew-flight-record>. This mission marks the first crewed use of an "ultrafast" flight plan, which will see the Soyuz arrive at the space station within three hours of its launch, rather than following an earlier expedited six-hour track or two-day path.

"This two-orbit rendezvous has been modeled for quite a while now. It has been tested with Progress [cargo] vehicles," Ryzhikov said in a pre-launch press conference on Tuesday (Oct. 13). "We will be reaching the station a lot sooner than we have reached Baikonur coming out from Moscow."

Rubins, Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov's launch came two and a half weeks before the 20-year anniversary of the space station's first crew taking up residency on the orbital complex. The Expedition 1 crew <http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-110215a-space-station-15-years.html>, also comprised of an American and two Russians — William Shepard, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev — began their stay on Nov. 2, 2000.

"The 20-year anniversary of a continuous human presence in space is going to be quite an event, and I think all three of us look forward to being there during that time," said Rubins. "I think the International Space Station is one of the most incredible engineering achievements in human history, and certainly it ranks very high on spaceflight achievements. It is quite a marvel to see such a giant machine that was built entirely by humans and flown off the surface of Earth still persists in space 20 years later."

Landing Coverage Set for NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy, Space Station Crew
 <https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/49784242052_40d3cb8fdf_k_0.jpg>
49784242052_40d3cb8fdf_k.jpg
The Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan with Expedition 62 crew members Jessica Meir and Drew Morgan of NASA, and Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos, Friday, April 17, 2020. Meir and Skripochka returned after 205 days in space, and Morgan after 272 days in space. All three served as Expedition 60-61-62 crew members onboard the International Space Station.
Credits: NASA/GCTC/Andrey Shelepin
 <applewebdata://14175F0D-9AF4-4808-A7A0-8A825F7ABD27#>
NASA will provide live coverage of the return to Earth for agency astronaut Chris Cassidy <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/christopher-j-cassidy>and two Russian cosmonauts Wednesday, Oct. 21, after six months aboard the International Space Station <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/>. Complete coverage of the return will be available on NASA TV and the agency’s website <https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive>.

Cassidy, the Expedition 63 commander, and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos, will close the hatch to their Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft at 4:10 p.m. EDT Wednesday. Their Soyuz will undock at 7:32 p.m. from the Poisk module’s space-facing port. A parachute-assisted landing is set for 10:55 p.m. EDT (8:55 a.m. Oct. 22 Kazakhstan time) southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan on the steppe of Kazakhstan. 

NASA TV coverage of crew farewells and hatch closing will begin at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Undocking coverage will begin at 7 p.m., and Soyuz deorbit burn and landing coverage at 9:30 p.m 

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, Cassidy will hand over station command to newly arrived cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos in a change of command ceremony that will be broadcast live at 4:15 p.m. on NASA TV.

The three crew members will wrap up a 196-day mission spanning 3,136 orbits of Earth and 83 million miles. Cassidy is completing his third flight for a total of 378 days in space, the fifth highest total <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-station-astronaut-record-holders> among U.S. astronauts. Ivanishin is completing his third flight into space, totaling 476 days. This was Vagner’s first spaceflight.

After landing, the crew will return by Russian helicopters to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From there, Cassidy will board a NASA plane for a flight back to Houston, while Ivanishin and Vagner will board a Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center aircraft and return to their homes in Star City, Russia.

At the time of undocking, Expedition 64 will begin aboard the station, with Kate Rubins <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/kathleen-rubins/biography> of NASA, new station commander Ryzhikov and cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos comprising a three-person station crew until the arrival of the SpaceX Crew-1 <https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2020/10/10/nasa-spacex-crew-1-launch-update/> mission targeted to launch in November. NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/michael-s-hopkins>, Victor Glover <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/victor-j-glover> and Shannon Walker <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/walker-shannon>, and Soichi Noguchi <https://iss.jaxa.jp/en/astro/biographies/noguchi/index.html> of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will launch on the first long-duration commercial crew mission to the station.

During their expedition, Cassidy, Ivanishin, and Vagner welcomed the arrival of NASA astronauts Robert Behnken <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/robert-l-behnken> and Douglas Hurley <https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/douglas-g-hurley> on NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission,the first crewed flight of a commercial spacecraft and the first launch of humans from American soil to the space station since the final space shuttle flight in 2011. During their time aboard, Behnken joined Cassidy for four battery-replacement spacewalks outside the orbiting complex, switching aging nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries. 

Cassidy worked on many research experiments during his time aboard the orbiting laboratory, including the Onco-Selectors <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8265> experiment, which arrived at the space station on Northrop Grumman’s 14th commercial resupply mission <https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-science-cargo-heads-to-space-station-on-northrop-grumman-resupply-mission> earlier this month. The Onco-Selectors investigation leverages microgravity to identify targeted cancer therapies. He also contributed to research on the Droplet Formation Study <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7541>, which evaluates water droplet formation and water flow, and worked with the Astrobee <https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=1891> cube-shaped, free-flying robots being tested for use as astronaut assistants for routine duties.

Learn more about space station activities by following @space_station <https://twitter.com/space_station>, and @ISS_Research <https://twitter.com/ISS_Research> on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/ISS> and ISS Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/ISS/> accounts and the space station blog <https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/>.

SpaceX's Starman and Elon Musk's Tesla just made their 1st Mars flyby
By Mike Wall <https://www.space.com/author/mike-wall> 
Starman got less than 5 million miles from the Red Planet.

SpaceX's Starman mannequin sits inside Elon Musk's red Tesla Roadster with Earth in the background, shortly after the initial launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket on Feb. 6, 2018. 
(Image: © SpaceX)
Starman just cruised by Mars for the first time.

The spacesuit-clad mannequin is "driving" SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster, which launched in February 2018 on the debut flight of the company's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket <https://www.space.com/39607-spacex-falcon-heavy-first-test-flight-launch.html>. And the duo just hit a big milestone on their cosmic journey.

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