ISS Archives - The Silver Ink

SpaceX abort system where astronauts can escape during spaceflight

May 25, 2015 By Stephanie James 1 Comment

Space X has released the latest footage of the Pad Abort Test of its Crew Dragon Capsule on Friday, which was launched earlier in May.

The unmanned space was designed to test the effectiveness of the company’s new capsule abort system.

The abort system will allow astronomers to steer clear from a malfunctioning rocket during a failed launch.

It was reported that the Pad Abort Test for the Crew Dragon was a success.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX said, “It was a great, great outcome, had there been people on board, they would have been in great shape.”

It was a 2 minute video clip , where the recording was from the perspective of a passenger inside the space vehicle.

It starts off with the crew Dragon capsule preparing to blast off on its launch pad in Florida.

The capsule’s propulsion system then activates its rocket, sending the spacecraft soaring through the sky.

SpaceX reported that the Crew Dragon was able to reach a maximum velocity of 345 miles per hour during the test.

At around the 30 second of the video, it can be seen that the capsule separated from its trunk and deploys its parachutes to stabilize its flight.

The three main chutes are then released to allow the spacecraft to safely descend toward the nearby Atlantic Ocean.

The test of the Crew Dragon Capsule lasted for one minute and 39 seconds from the launch of the capsule until it descended in the water,

The spacecraft during the test flew 5,000 feet above the ground.

SpaceX explained, “Crew Dragon’s abort system is powered by eight SuperDraco engines which together produce 120,000 pounds of axial thrust. The engines are integrated directly into the sides of the vehicle rather than carried on top of the vehicle as with previous launch abort systems. This configuration provides astronauts escape capability from the launch pad all the way to orbit and allows the spacecraft to use the same thrusters to land propulsively on land at the end of a mission.”

Astronauts at ISS are getting new espresso machine

April 16, 2015 By Kyle Mills Leave a Comment

The crew at the International Space Station or ISS got their custom made espresso machine. The machine is built using the zero gravity technique.

The machine is created by Italian coffee company Lavazza and aerospace company Argotec.

Luca Parmitano, an Italian astronaut said, one of the things he missed on Earth during his stint at the space station was espresso. If he will be sent to international space station, he might not say no with ISSpresso on board.

The dragon capsule which has launched yesterday is expected to reach International Space Station by Friday.

The resupply cargo has many supplies and scientific experiments including the ISSpresso machine.

According to developers one of the biggest challenges for them in making the machine was how to stop the espresso from floating.

The astronauts at ISS will have to drink the coffee in a bag with a straw, so that the liquid is not floating around.

The ISSpresso is a simple machine and it is roughly the size of the microwave, and it very easy to operate.

The astronauts are only required to place a sealed bag of hot water within the machine and add a capsule of espresso, then press the brew button, and espresso is ready.

The espresso machine is fitted with additional safety measures which includes collection of sensors and extra strong steel tubing to avoid leakage of steam and coffee in the cabin

Vickie Kloeris, NASA food supply manager said that they still have to wait before celebrating, as they don’t know whether the machine will work in the space or not. Aside from the technical problems which may arise, they are other problems NASA is trying to figure out like how to increase the machines capability to store espresso capsule. At present the machine can store 20-30 espresso capsules.

The Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, one of the crew members is going to be served with the first cup of espresso in space. If she approves then only the rest of the crew members will go for espresso.

SpaceX successfully launches Falcon 9 rocket, but landing fails

April 15, 2015 By Stephanie James Leave a Comment

US space transport services firm SpaceX on Tuesday blasted off a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) along with Dragon, an uncrewed cargo spacecraft, on a flight at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Even though this easy part was successfully launched, the private space exploration company made an unsuccessful bid while landing a rocket staged on a floating barge.

“Ascent successful. Dragon enroute to Space Station. Rocket landed on droneship, but too hard for survival,” SpaceX founder and billionaire CEO Elon Musk tweeted soon after the launch.

Later on Musk clarified that the company’s rocket landed, but tipped over.

“Looks like Falcon landed fine, but excess lateral velocity caused it to tip over post landing pic.twitter.com/eJWzN6KSJa,” Musk tweeted further.

The space company made rigorous effort to land a Falcon 9 rocket on the drone ship in January this year, but the rocket skidded at an angle and explosion occurred. SpaceX has said it will keep trying and, after it masters landing at sea, hopes to someday land rockets on the ground.

Falcon 9 first stage landing burn and touchdown on Just Read the Instructions https://t.co/4Te0BfT2Qn

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 15, 2015

The Dragon will be docking with the International Space Station a couple of days following launch for the delivery of over 4,300 pounds of supplies, including ISSpresso and research equipment and other related items.

ISSpresso, an espresso maker, is meant at providing coffee and tea for the astronauts at the ISS.

The launch of Tuesday was the second attempt by the space company for this mission. The rocket launch that was planned for Monday was scrubbed last month due to bad weather conditions. This is the sixth mission of SpaceX to ISS.

Italian espresso maker soon to land at International Space Station

April 13, 2015 By Kyle Mills Leave a Comment

The upcoming space station grocery run will be carrying caffeine to a complete new level aboard the supply ship of SpaceX is a real espresso machine direct coming from Italy.

SpaceX is scheduled to kick off its unmanned rocket with the espresso maker along with 4,000 pounds (or 1,800 kilograms) of science research, food and other equipment on Monday.

The experimental espresso machine is mainly intended for International Space Station (ISS) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy.

It was earlier scheduled to arrive in January, shortly after Cristoforetti reached at ISS. The main idea is to get some relief for Cristoforetti from the station’s instant coffee. But it ended up on the back burner after an ISS shipment from Virginia got lost in a launch explosion.

Italian coffee bigwig Lavazza joined forces with the Italian Space Agency and engineering company Argotec in Turin in order to provide a specifically designed machine for use off the planet. American space agency NASA has also certified its safety.

This will be the seventh station supply run since 2012 of California-based SpaceX. All these supply run has been carried from Cape Canaveral.

This is for the third time when SpaceX will make a landing attempt to its leftover booster vertically on an ocean barge. The previous two tests failed badly.

Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, wishes saving time as well as money by the reuse of the first-stage boosters that are normally discarded in the Atlantic Ocean. The space company is making a makeover of a former missile-launching site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station into a landing pad for the flyback boosters.

The time of the launch is 4:33 pm (2033 GMT) on Monday. According to the weather forecasters, the weather would be favorable at 60 percent for the launch.

Categories