With just a month until the Soyuz MS-18 mission to the International Space Station, NASA has assigned astronaut Mark Vande Hei to the flight for a roughly six-month trip to the outpost.
Read MoreTwo astronauts—one American, the other Japanese—suited up to venture outside the International Space Station to finish work upgrading the outpost’s robotic Canadarm2, a process that has now involved five extravehicular activities over some four months.
The six-hour U.S. EVA-48 began when NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Norishige Kanai put on their suits and exited the Quest airlock.
Read MoreLess than a week after completing one spacewalk, International Space Station Expedition 53 astronauts Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei set out on another extravehicular activity. This excursion, U.S. EVA-45, lasted about 6.5 hours.
At 7:56 a.m. EDT (11:56 GMT) Oct. 10, 2017, the two NASA astronauts switched their spacesuits over to battery power, officially starting U.S. EVA-45. The primary task of the spacewalk was to replace a faulty camera and begin the process of lubricating the new Latching End Effector on the robotic Canadarm2.
Read MoreExpedition 53 Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei wrapped up the first of three spacewalks planned for the next two weeks. The October 5, 2017, spacewalk was nearly seven hours long and saw the replacement of one of the two Latching End Effectors on the International Space Station’s robotic arm.
Read MoreThe population of the International Space Station returned to six people as the crew of Soyuz MS-06 docked with and entered the outpost. The spacecraft hard-mated with its docking port at about 10:55 p.m. EDT Sept. 12 (02:55 GMT Sept. 13), 2017.
About 2 hours later, at 1:08 a.m. EDT (05:08 GMT), the hatches between the Soyuz and space station were opened allowing Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba to float inside.
Read MoreLaunching atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, three people are heading toward the International Space Station. The trio will arrive at the $100 billion complex in just under six hours.
NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba, along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, launched inside their Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft atop a Soyuz-FG rocket.
Read MoreOrbital Velocity is designed to be "living time capsule" about the International Space Station.
This project is an attempt to bridge an information gap between space agencies and companies, as well as a public that supports space endeavors with their tax dollars. Despite the importance of the space station, the general public doesn't always know what is happening aboard this amazing complex on a regular basis. Research being conducted isn't always readily available and what information is out there can sometimes be difficult to understand. Some people aren't even aware there is an active space program, let alone a space station.
Orbital Velocity hopes to change that by building a database of information through blogs, a website, small videos and longer documentary-like series'.
Copyright © 2024 Orbital Velocity
