NASA Television covered the pre-launch and launch activities of the Expedition 49/50 crew on its mission to the International Space Station. On Oct. 19, Soyuz Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Flight Engineers Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos and Shane Kimbrough of NASA launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to begin a two-day journey to the space station and a five-month mission aboard the orbital complex.
ISS Expedition 49 Crew Patch
Expedition 49 crew members Shane Kimbrough of NASA, and Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 9, 2016.
On Oct. 17, Orbital ATK launched its Cygnus cargo spacecraft atop an Antares rocket to the International Space Station. The spacecraft launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. This is the sixth cargo mission to the International Space Station for Orbital ATK.
In analyzing the data, a team led by Christopher Conselice of the University of Nottingham, U.K., found that 10 times as many galaxies were packed into a given volume of space in the early universe than found today. Most of these galaxies were relatively small and faint, with masses similar to those of the satellite galaxies surrounding the Milky Way. As they merged to form larger galaxies the population density of galaxies in space dwindled. This means that galaxies are not evenly distributed throughout the universe’s history, the research team reports in a paper to be published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Recently, NASA asked the private sector how it might use an available docking port on the ISS. One of the potential uses of such a port would be preparation for one or more future commercial stations in Low Earth Orbit, ready to take over for the Space Station once its mission ends in the 2020s. The private sector responded enthusiastically, and those responses indicated a strong desire by U.S. companies to attach a commercial module to the ISS that could meet the needs of NASA as well as those of private entrepreneurs.
As a result of the responses, this fall, NASA will start the process of providing companies with a potential opportunity to add their own modules and other capabilities to the International Space Station. While NASA prepares for the transition from the Space Station to its successors, the agency is also working to support and grow the community of scientists and entrepreneurs conducting research and growing businesses in space. A vibrant user community will be key to ensuring the economic viability of future space stations.
We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America’s story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time.
1994 NASA concept art shows a prototypical “International Space Station Alpha.” (Glenn Research Center)
“We’re about to—the administrator of NASA, Charlie Bolden, is about to—announce the most powerful rocket in history,” he said.
As Bolden watched from the sideline, Nelson’s aides flipped over two large placards with SLS artist’s concepts.
It was a pearl-white rocket with black markings, evocative of the Saturn V. The core stage, powered by five space shuttle engines, was the size of an elongated shuttle fuel tank. A conical adapter sloped up to upper stage, which would be propelled by the J-2X engine that had already been in development for Ares I and Ares V. Two upgraded shuttle boosters were strapped to the sides. At the very top, under a protective shroud, was the Orion crew capsule.
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