Category: Space Stations

Space stations in orbit or planned

SpaceX targeting Aug. 26 for historic Polaris Dawn astronaut mission

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SpaceX is now targeting Aug. 26 for the launch of Polaris Dawn, a crewed flight to Earth orbit that will feature the first-ever private spacewalk. The news, which the Polaris Dawn team announced today (Aug. 7) via a post on X, firms up a previously vague window; the most recent target for the groundbreaking mission was mid-August. Polaris Dawn will send four people to Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which will lift off from NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew…

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SpaceX Crew-9 astronaut mission: Live updates

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Refresh 2024-08-07T19:48:05.208Z SpaceX Crew-9 may bring home Starliner astronauts Boeing Starliner may not bring its first astronauts home after all. NASA officials, absent a representative from Boeing, updated reporters today (Aug. 7) about how troubleshooting Starliner‘s undocking and landing may affect the next SpaceX astronaut flight to the International Space Station.  Starliner has faced a lot of difficulties since launching its first astronaut mission, most especially after 5 of its 28 reaction control thrusters (RCS) misfired during docking with the ISS on June 6. Work on the matter is ongoing, and…

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NASA considers sending Boeing Starliner astronauts home on SpaceX Dragon

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Boeing Starliner may not bring its first astronauts home after all. NASA officials, absent a representative from Boeing, updated reporters today (Aug. 7) about how troubleshooting Starliner‘s undocking and landing may affect the next SpaceX astronaut flight to the International Space Station.  Starliner has faced a lot of difficulties since launching its first astronaut mission, most especially after 5 of its 28 reaction control thrusters (RCS) misfired during docking with the ISS on June 6. Work on the matter is ongoing, and as NASA revealed yesterday (Aug. 6), it will require…

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Stellar oddball: Nearby star rotates unlike any other

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A nearby star that’s similar to the sun in many ways is actually an unprecedented oddball, astronomers have discovered. The surprising star is V889 Herculis, located 115 light-years away in the constellation of Hercules. This otherwise sun-like young star spins in a way that astronomers have never seen before and could challenge our model of stellar rotation, which scientists had thought was well understood. Stars are roiling balls of superheated gas or plasma, meaning they don’t rotate like solid bodies. Instead, they display differential rotation; some layers move at different…

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SpaceX’s Crew-9 astronaut launch delayed to Sept. 24 due to Boeing Starliner issues

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SpaceX‘s next astronaut mission won’t get off the ground this month after all. Crew-9, SpaceX‘s ninth operational flight to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA, had been targeted to lift off on Aug. 18. But it has been pushed back to no earlier than Sept. 24, the agency announced today (Aug. 6). “This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked to the orbiting laboratory,” NASA said in an update this afternoon. Crew Flight Test (CFT) is…

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Planets of Milky Way’s most common stars are less habitable than thought, dead NASA telescope reveals

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The most common stars in the Milky Way may be even less friendly to life than previously suspected. New research suggests that red dwarf stars, stellar bodies smaller and less massive than the sun, may blast their planets with intense ultraviolet (UV) light radiation flares that severely reduce their potential habitability. A team of scientists reached this conclusion by analyzing data collected by the now-decommissioned NASA mission Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). Launched in April 2003, GALEX scanned the universe in UV light, hunting for flares from around 300,000 nearby stars…

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Hurricane Debby makes landfall in Florida as satellites watch from space (video)

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Satellites in space watched Hurricane Debby roar across Florida on Monday, bringing with it potentially record-setting rainfall and dangerous 80 mph (129 km/h) winds. NOAA’s GOES-East satellite recorded real-time views of Debby as it watched the hurricane unleash its force across the southeastern U.S. The footage, gathered from the satellite’s position about 22,236 miles (35,785 kilometers) above Earth’s equator, shows Debby strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, swirling dangerously close to Florida. Debby made landfall at Steinhatchee, Florida around 7 a.m. ET (1100 GMT) on Aug. 5 as…

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10 new dead star ‘monsters’ discovered at the heart of the Milky Way

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Astronomers have discovered ten strange dead stars, or “neutron stars,” lurking near the heart of the Milky Way. These weirdo neutron stars are also spinning, meaning they are “pulsars.” Scientists suspect the overly dense nature of this oddball globular cluster, located 18,000 light-years from Earth, could result in these rapidly spinning dead stars taking on bizarre and twisted forms. The lot, for instance, includes several “spider pulsars” that destroy stars with plasma webs and a speed demon vampire star greedily feasting on its companion stars. Pulsars are neutron stars that…

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The sun fires off 2 powerful X flares in less than 2 hours (video, photo)

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The sun showcased its immense power yet again this morning (August 5), firing off not one but two X-class flares. X flares are the strongest solar flare class. Today’s first X blast, which launched from a sunspot called AR3767, reached its peak around 9:40 a.m. EDT (1340 GMT), clocking in at X1.7 on solar scientists’ flare scale. Then, less than two hours later, the sunspot AR3780 fired off an X1.1 class solar flare, which peaked at 11:27 a.m. EDT (1527 GMT).  Solar flares are often accompanied by huge eruptions of solar…

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Station Science Top News: August 2, 2024

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Analyses suggest that microgravity does not significantly alter fundamental biochemical pathways in kidney cells, including metabolism of vitamin D. This finding could help researchers develop strategies to protect crew health on future missions and improve treatment of kidney-related diseases on Earth.  Kidney Cells examined the effects of microgravity and other factors of space travel on kidney health. Previous reports suggested that changes in kidney cell metabolism of vitamin D plays a role in bone loss in microgravity, and this paper recommends additional study to determine if this most recent finding is consistent with extended (>6…

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