Tag Archives: Cargo Ship

NASA prepares for cargo craft to return to Earth

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The Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) Cygnus commercial space freighter with its cymbal-like Ultra-Flex solar arrays and the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft are pictured in this fish-eye lens view from a window on the International Space Station.

The Northrop Grumman Cygnus CRS-9 Cargo Craft will be returning to earth on July 15 after a six-week stay at the International Space Station.

 

Coverage of the departing cargo craft will start at 8:15 a.m. with the craft scheduled to depart at 8:35 a.m. The entire departure can be viewed on WKTV 26 Government Channel on Comcast and AT&T U-verse Government Channel 99. 

 

The cargo ship, which was dubbed the S.S. James “JR”  Thompson after the fifth director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, brought a myriad of science investigations in both commercial and academic fields. Those included biomolecule extraction and sequencing technology, a cold atom laboratory, ice cubes facility, and microgravity investigation of event solidification. 

 

For the past several days, the current crew of the International Space Station have been packing the Cygnus with trash and old gear in preparation for its return to Earth.

 

For more information about the departure, NASA TV or the International Space Station, visit www.nasa.gov.

 

Rescheduled spacewalk featured this month on WKTV Government 26

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WTV Government 26 will be broadcasting two special live events next week, the launch of ISS Progress 69 Cargo Ship and a spacewalk from the International Space Station.

 

On Sunday, Feb. 11, NASA will cover the launch of the Russian ISS Progress 69 Cargo Ship. The unmanned Progress 69 cargo craft will launch to the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Coverage will be begin at about 3:30 a.m. with the launch scheduled at 3:58 p.m.

 

Coverage will continue with the docking of the ISS Progress 69 Cargo Ship at 6:30 a.m. with the docking scheduled for 7:24 a.m. The cargo ship will be delivering food, fuel, and supplies.

 

On Thursday, Feb. 15, NASA will be showcasing the ISS Expedition 54 U.S. Spacewalk #48. This was the spacewalk that was scheduled to take place in January. Astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Norishige Kanai will stow and reposition a pair of Latching End Effectors (LEEs). The LEEs are robotic hands attached to the tip of the Canadarm2 that grab and release cargo ships and external station hardware.

 

According to NASA, during the 6.5-hour excursion, the spacewalkers will first move an older LEE from a bracket on the Mobile Base System on the truss to the Quest airlock. It was removed from Camadarm 2 during a spacewalk last October. Next, a degraded LEE detached from Canadarm2 during the lat U.S. spacewalk on Jan. 23 will be moved from an external stowage platform to the Mobile Base System.

 

Coverage will being at 5:30 a.m. and the spacewalk will start at approximately 7:10am.

 

For more information on NASA TV or the International Space Station, log on to www.nasa.gov. NASA TV can be seen on the WKTV 26 Government Channel on Comcast and on AT&T U-verse 99 Government Channel 99.

Spacewalk, launch part of WKTV programming this week

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In this May 2017 photo, NASA astronaut Jack Fischer works outside the U.S. Destiny laboratory module of the International Space Station. (Photo courtesy of NASA)

WKTV Government 26 will be featuring two special NASA programs this week.

 

On Tuesday, Oct. 10, American astronaut Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei, both aboard the International Space Station, will embark on the second of three space walks for October.

 

Coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m., with the spacewalk scheduled to start at 8:05 a.m. The spacewalks may happen earlier if the crew is running ahead of schedule. The second and third spacewalks will be devoted to lubricating the newly replaced Canadarm2 end effector and replacing cameras on the left side of the station’s truss and the right side of the station’s U.S. Destiny laboratory. The spacewalk is expected to last six and a half hours.

 

The last of the three spacewalks will take place Oct 18 with Bresnik being joined by Engineer Joe Acaba.

 

On Thursday, Oct. 12, will be the launch of the ISS Progress 68 Cargo Ship to the ISS from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Coverage begins at approximately 5 a.m. with the launch scheduled for 5:32 a.m. Coverage of the docking at the ISS Progress 68 Cargo Ship starts at approximately 8 a.m. with the actual docking scheduled for 8:56 a.m.

 

For more information on both of these launches, go to nasa.gov/station. NASA TV can be seen on WKTV 26 Government Channel and AT&T U-verse Government channel 99.