NG-10 Cygnus ends post-ISS mission after deploying satellites

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NG-10 Cygnus ends post-ISS mission after deploying satellites

Having launched Nov. 17, 2018, and spent 81 days attached to the International Space Station, the NG-10 Cygnus, named SS John Glenn by Northrop Grumman, was unberthed Feb. 8 to perform a two-week stand-alone mission. That post-ISS flight came to an end at about 09:00 UTC Feb. 25, 2019, when the spacecraft’s engine performed a deorbit burn to lower its orbit enough for Earth’s atmosphere to drag it down, safely burning it up of the Pacific Ocean.

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NASA planning to buy 2 more seats aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft

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NASA planning to buy 2 more seats aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft

While the first Commercial Crew flights are just around the corner, NASA is looking to buy a little more buffer time in order to ensure uninterrupted access to the International Space Station.

First reported by NASASpaceflight, a procurement document published on Feb. 13, 2019, shows the U.S. space agency is looking to buy two more seats aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft. These seats would presumably be on Soyuz MS-15 and Soyuz MS-16 in the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020 respectively.

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NG-10 Cygnus departs ISS to perform secondary mission

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NG-10 Cygnus departs ISS to perform secondary mission

Northrop Grumman’s NG-10 Cygnus spacecraft has departed the International Space Station after three months at the orbiting complex.

Loaded inside the disposable cargo freighter is 2,500 kilograms of trash and unneeded equipment. Cygnus is now set to perform a two-week free-flight mission to deploy three CubeSats, according to NASA.

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‘Hundreds’ of impacts found on ESA’s Columbus module

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‘Hundreds’ of impacts found on ESA’s Columbus module

Each International Space Station module is designed with micrometeoroid debris protection. A recent survey of the European Space Agency’s Columbus module shows just how much it is needed.

According to a news release from ESA, a survey performed Sept. 6, 2018, using the station’s 17.6-meter robotic arm showed “hundreds of impacts” across the surface of the Columbus module.

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SpaceX completes 16th Dragon mission to ISS

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SpaceX completes 16th Dragon mission to ISS

After spending just over a month attached to the International Space Station, SpaceX's CRS-16 Dragon spacecraft departed the outpost and returned to Earth.

Loaded with more than 1,800 kilograms of equipment and experiments for a return to Earth, Dragon was unberthed from the Harmony module at around 20:00 UTC Jan. 13, 2019.

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Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon vertical at Launch Complex 39A

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Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon vertical at Launch Complex 39A

The year 2019 is already off to a fast start with multiple deep space encounters performed by several robotic spacecraft. Closer to home, however, another vehicle is being prepped for its first orbital flight: SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. However, schedule unknowns still remain.

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Home for Christmas: Soyuz MS-09 crew lands in Kazakhstan

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Home for Christmas: Soyuz MS-09 crew lands in Kazakhstan

Three people made a fiery return to Earth in a Soyuz capsule after spending 197 days in space, mostly aboard the International Space Station.

Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst landed in a frigid Kazakhstan at 5:02 UTC Dec. 20, 2018 in their Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft’s descent module.

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Bringing a knife to a spacewalk: Cosmonauts inspect Soyuz leak repair

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Bringing a knife to a spacewalk: Cosmonauts inspect Soyuz leak repair

During a nearly eight-hour spacewalk, two Russian cosmonauts used a knife to peel back thermal insulation in order to inspect an area of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft where a small leak occurred and was repaired earlier in the year.

In August 2018, a minor leak was detected aboard the International Space Station. The source of the slow depressurization event was traced to the Orbital Module of Soyuz MS-09.

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