Space Station International Docking Adapter Undergoes Tests for Starliner and Crew Dragon

By Talia Landman, on October 8th, 2015

Engineers in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, recently tested the mechanisms that will connect future commercial crew spacecraft with the second International Docking Adapter. IDA-2, as it’s called, will be taken to the space station on a future cargo resupply mission. It will be one of two […]

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Falcon 9 Fails, Dooming Dragon Cargo Ship and First Commercial Crew Docking Adapter

By Ben Evans, on June 28th, 2015

Close to the end of first-stage flight, the nine Merlin 1D engines appeared to flare, ahead of vehicle disintegration. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/AmericaSpace

Following 18 successful launches since June 2010, the heart was torn from SpaceX earlier today (Sunday, 28 June), following the disintegration of a Falcon 9 v1.1 booster during its flight […]

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SpaceX Primed for Record-Setting Third Space Station-Bound Dragon Flight of 2015

By Ben Evans, on June 26th, 2015

The CRS-7 mission is the seventh dedicated Dragon cargo flight under the language of SpaceX’s $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. Credit: NASA

Less than six weeks since its most recent cargo ship returned from the International Space Station (ISS), SpaceX—the Hawthorne, Calif.-based launch services operator, headed by entrepreneur Elon […]

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Ambitious One-Year Mission Counting Down to Friday Launch (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on March 26th, 2015

Scott Kelly participates in a Soyuz spacecraft training session, ahead of his scheduled 27/28 March launch with Gennadi Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko. Photo Credit: NASA

Twenty-four hours now remain before Soyuz TMA-16M is scheduled to rocket toward the International Space Station (ISS), carrying Russian cosmonauts Gennadi Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko and U.S. astronaut […]

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Expedition 42 Spacewalkers Prepare Space Station for Arrival of Commercial Crew Vehicles

By Ben Evans, on February 21st, 2015

Astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore works at the Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA)-2, at the extreme “front end” of the Harmony node, during EVA-29 on Saturday, 21 February. Photo Credit: NASA TV

Astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Terry Virts—two members of the six-strong Expedition 42 crew currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS)—spent six hours […]

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Hardware Movement and Reconfiguration to Highlight Space Station Operations in 2015 (Part 2)

By Ben Evans, on January 2nd, 2015

Eighteen astronauts and cosmonauts from six sovereign nations will occupy the International Space Station (ISS) during 2015, delivered by means of Russia’s proven Soyuz spacecraft. Photo Credit: NASA

As many people on Planet Earth struggled with ferocious hangovers on the morning of 1 January 2015, the incumbent Expedition 42 crew of the International […]

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Hardware Movement and Reconfiguration to Highlight Space Station Operations in 2015 (Part 1)

By Ben Evans, on January 1st, 2015

2015 promises to be a dramatic year for the ISS. Four Soyuz spacecraft will launch toward the space station, delivering new crew members from Russia, the United States, Japan, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. Photo Credit: NASA

The 15th year of continuous occupation of the International Space Station (ISS) promises to be a […]

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