NASA plans to open the International Space Station to private astronaut missions, though this most unusual of AirBnbs will likely leave a multi-million dent in your pocket. The US space agency announced its plans to enable such missions on Friday, as part of a larger push to better utilize the ISS and accelerate the low-Earth orbit commercial economy.
Last month, a spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station carrying, among other cargo, small cube-shaped robots called Astrobees. The devices are designed to operate in the space lab's unique microgravity environment, offering assistance to the astronauts located on the ISS. In its most recent update on the matter, NASA shared an image of the Astrobee robot 'Bumble' on the ISS alongside some details about how it and its 'Honey' companion are operating.
Over the weekend, SpaceX launched its Dragon cargo spacecraft packed with supplies for the International Space Station. Now, two days later, NASA has confirmed that the spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS, bringing with it more than 5,500lbs of cargo that includes hardware, research materials, and supplies for crew members. This marks SpaceX's 17th contracted commercial resupply mission.
Robotic bees, oh god! This is just like that time Homer Simpson brought a bag of chips on a space flight and crashed into an ant farm! Actually it's not quite that intense - but it's nearly that entertaining. What we're looking at today is a pair of what NASA calls "Astrobees". These computers were made to assist ISS astronauts in their daily research tasks in microgravity.
NASA has announced that it and its partners are making some changes to the schedule and crew assignments for the ISS. The changes will see NASA astronaut Jessica Meir making her first flight to the ISS. Astronaut Andrew Morgan will see his stay aboard the ISS extended.
NASA has been working on robots to help astronauts on the ISS so that they have more time to spend on science rather than routine maintenance tasks. NASA has announced that it has a trio of robotic "bees" that are set to join the astronauts on the ISS. These bots look nothing like their namesake.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague has shared a selfie few will be able to replicate: it was snapped in space and features Earth located about 260 miles away in the background. The selfie was recently published by NASA, which reports that Hague took the image during a nearly seven-hour spacewalk to upgrade the International Space Station's orbital complex power storage capacity.
Astronauts on the ISS often venture out into the vacuum of space to conduct various tasks. A series of spacewalks was set to happen that would see astronauts work outside the space station for multiple hours in a series of three walks. The first in the series was completed on March 22 by Nick Hague and Anne McClain.
NASA has announced that its astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague safely arrived at the International Space Station and have since boarded the vessel. The trip took place on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft alongside Roscosmos' Alexey Ovchinin; the vehicle launched for the ISS at 3:14PM EDT on March 14, according to NASA, which says the crew boarded the ISS late last night.
This morning preparations began for the launch of mission Soyuz MS-12, operator Roscosmos, headed for the International Space Station. This mission will be launched aboard a Soyuz FG rocket from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome. The payload aboard this launch is a mixed Russia and USA International Space Station Expedition 59/60 crew.
NASA shared a video of the SpaceX Crew Dragon reentry and splashdown this morning, completing Demo-1 flight test in its entirety. This is a historic video - and event - due to its place in returning human astronauts to space via commercial means. Now that this test is complete, SpaceX can move forward with tests with humans onboard craft of similar stature.
The weekend was a big one for space fans and enthusiasts in the US. SpaceX made a successful launch of its Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon capsule on board. The launch and travel to the ISS went off without a hitch.