Updates ISS UPDATES

[boogabooga]

Yo dawg, I heard you like docking adapters, so I made an adapter for...

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

That EVA has been completed without any issues:

The operation continues with the 2nd EVA scheduled on tomorrow:

 

[boogabooga]

Can anyone explain to me why NDS ([ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Docking_System"]NASA Docking System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame])
is being developed? What is "wrong" with APAS?

I get nervous when I hear of a new "International Docking System Standard" because:
http://xkcd.com/927/

 

[orbitingpluto]

Can anyone explain to me why NDS (NASA Docking System - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
is being developed? What is "wrong" with APAS?

I get nervous when I hear of a new "International Docking System Standard" because:
http://xkcd.com/927/

I think it has to do with the forces involved to connect properly: from what I understand APAS was built with the impact of a 100mt+ space shuttle(Russian or American) in mind, and for a less massive spacecraft to operate a APAS they have to come in at higher speeds to give them the force of the slower(but more massive) moving shuttle.

 

[ISProgram]

Well, the ISS isn't using NDS/iLIDS anymore, now it's Boeing's SIMAC (Soft Impact Mating and Attenuation Concept) system now for the IDAs which will be arriving later this year.

...Boeing seems to get a piece out of everything.

 

[orbitingpluto]

Well, the ISS isn't using NDS/iLIDS anymore, now it's Boeing's SIMAC (Soft Impact Mating and Attenuation Concept) system now for the IDAs which will be arriving later this year.

...Boeing seems to get a piece out of everything.

Boeing's docking thingamabobbin didn't replace the NASA Docking System(NDS), both it(SIMAC) and the LIDS/iLIDS concepts were proposals for the NDS. This Aviation Week Article from 2012 makes that rather clear, and in this Boeing press release from August of 2014 it's all about NDS, with not a single horn tooted about SIMAC.

I can get how you feel about Boeing, but I can't really fault them for taking a concept of theirs and going out and winning a contract on the merits of their design. Sure, seeing a smaller company compete and win would be good, but Boeing hasn't done anything wrong yet, at least nothing that I'm aware of.

 

[C3PO]

Is there any data on SIMAC available that could be useful for modelling in Orbiter?

 

[orbitingpluto]

It has but one graphic on page two, but at least it's a start.

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20140009916.pdf

 

[C3PO]

It has but one graphic on page two, but at least it's a start.

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20140009916.pdf

I've seen that one and there are 1 or 2 similar to that one. I'd like to see some actual hardware because those 3D models tend to change too quickly for me to keep up. That's why I stopped making a generic mesh for LIDS that developers could use/copy/modify into their models.

We are close enough to launching the actual system that there should be some hardware that looks similar to the final result. (The final version of the CVEL ATV is dated 3½ years prior to the first launch, and it looks quite similar to the actual craft, if I do say so myself)

 

[Donamy]

Here is the actual IDA-1:

 

[boogabooga]

So, still with the water in the helmet:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

So, still with the water in the helmet:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Luckily the water amount inside Terry Virts' helmet isn't much, but well leaking cooling water inside a space suit has never been a good thing. :facepalm:

The EVA was actually flawless up until that point:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Despite the water leaking incident, the ISS team has decided to press on with the 3rd and final part of the spacewalk trilogy on Sunday (just before F9 flies again!).

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

And the third EVA has been completed smoothly and more than 1 hour earlier than planned! :thumbup:

 

[fsci123]

I'm not sure if this belongs here...

Bigelow aerospace hosted a conference about its beam module. Unveiling what is probably a finished module.

New Expandable Addition on Space Station to Gather Critical Data for Future Space Habitat Systems

NASA and Bigelow Aerospace are preparing to launch an expandable habitat module to the International Space Station this year. The agency joined Bigelow Thursday at its Las Vegas facility to mark completion of the company’s major milestones

Compare the photo above to the previous rendering.

The one now looks small and cute like an iPhone...except for inflatable modules.

 

[Kyle]

PMM to be relocated to Tranquility on May 27th!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHqzMpCIoOo

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=so_e0RZqnCE

Movement is now underway:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu-tdAnBdmM"]Space Station Live: Next Stop for PMM--Tranquility - YouTube[/ame]

(NASA TV won't start coverage until Leonardo almost reaches its final position, at 12:00 UTC)

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Movement is now underway:

Space Station Live: Next Stop for PMM--Tranquility - YouTube

(NASA TV won't start coverage until Leonardo almost reaches its final position, at 12:00 UTC)

...and complete:

In other news, look at this GoPro video of the Soyuz docking to the ISS with the one year crew back in late March!

 

[N_Molson]

Padalka breaks spaceflight endurance record

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka waves to family and friends before launching to the International Space Station on March 27. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls


Veteran Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, more than three months into his fifth trip into orbit, has passed countryman Sergey Krikalev’s mark of 803 days of cumulative time in space.

That is equivalent to more than 12,000 laps around Earth at the speeds of the International Space Station and Russia’s space station Mir, the two massive orbiting outposts Padalka has crewed in his cosmonaut career.

Padalka, who turned 57 last week, passed Krikalev’s spaceflight record of 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes Monday, Moscow time. Padalka is currently commander of the space station’s Expedition 44 crew, and he will have logged 878 days in orbit by the time he returns to Earth in September.

He doesn’t plan to stop there.

Padalka told interviewers before launching in March that he hopes to pass 1,000 days in space on his next mission.

Selected as a cosmonaut in 1989, Padalka first flew in space aboard the Mir space station in 1998 and 1999, spending 198 days there as commander. Before his current mission, Padalka lived on the International Space Station during three stints in 2004, 2009 and 2012, leading the Expedition 9, Expedition 19 and Expedition 32 crews.

Padalka is now part of a record-setting mission on the space station. Besides his passage of Krikalev’s spaceflight endurance mark, two other members of the Expedition 44 mission — NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko — are on a nearly year-long residency on the complex.

Kelly will become the most-experienced U.S. astronaut by the end of the flight, establishing new records for cumulative time in space by an American and the longest single spaceflight by a NASA crew member. Scientists will study how Kelly and Kornienko respond to prolonged exposure to microgravity to help prepare for future voyages into the solar system.

Krikalev, now deputy head of the Russian Central Research Institute of Machine Building, told Russian media he planned to congratulate Padalka on his achievement. The former cosmonaut is a veteran of six spaceflights, including a 311-day rotation on Mir in 1991 and 1992. Krikalev was also the first Russian to fly on the space shuttle in 1994 and was a member of the International Space Station’s first crew in 2000.

 

[orbitingpluto]

The ESA has made a 3d panorama 'tour' of most of the USOS, with interactive parts that have things like little webpages or embedded videos of Samantha Cristoforetti to add some information to the sights of the panoramas.