Watch Station Crew Swap Command Friday Afternoon

The Expedition 49-50 trio of (from left) Sergey Ryzhikov, Shane Kimbrough and Borisenko will stay on board the station after the Expedition 48-49 trio with Kate Rubins, Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi undock and return to Earth Saturday night.

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and her crewmates, Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are scheduled to return to Earth on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 11:59 p.m. EDT (9:59 a.m. Oct. 30, Kazakhstan time).

NASA Television will air coverage of the departure and landing activities, beginning with a change of command ceremony at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 28. Expedition 49 Commander Ivanishin will hand over station command to NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.

Crew Swaps Command and Readies for Homecoming

The six Expedition 49 crew members wave to mission controllers moments after cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin (right foreground) swapped command with NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough (left foreground) during a traditional Change of Command Ceremony.

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough assumed command of the International Space Station from Commander Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian Federal Space Agency at 3:37 p.m. EDT Friday in a traditional Change of Command ceremony. Expedition 50 will officially begin under Kimbrough’s command when the Soyuz spacecraft carrying Ivanishin, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency undocks from the space station on Saturday, October 29. NASA Television will air live coverage of the departure and landing activities, beginning at 4:45 p.m. Saturday. Hatch closure on the Soyuz is scheduled for 5:15 p.m.

The trio is scheduled to return to Earth Saturday at 11:59 p.m. EDT (9:59 a.m. Oct. 30, Kazakhstan time). They will land in their Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. Together, the Expedition 49 crew members contributed to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard humanity’s only orbiting laboratory.

New Crew Launches on Two-Day Trip to Station

The Soyuz MS-02 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station at 4:05 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 19 (2:05 p.m. Baikonur time). At the time of launch, the space station was flying 252 statute miles over the south Atlantic, east of Brazil. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are now safely in orbit.

Over the next two days, the trio will orbit the Earth 34 times before docking to the space station’s Poisk module at 5:59 a.m. Friday, Oct. 21. NASA TV coverage of the docking will begin at 5:15 a.m.

Soyuz Docks Bringing Three Crew to Station

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos have arrived at the International Space Station. Their Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft docked with the station’s Poisk module at 5:52 a.m. EDT. At the time of docking, the space station and Soyuz were flying 251 miles over southern Russia.

When hatches between the Soyuz and space station open at about 8:30 a.m. EDT, the three crew members will join Expedition 49 Commander Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineers Kate Rubins of NASA and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

FLEX-ible Insight Into Flame Behavior

Whether free-burning or smoldering, uncontrolled fire can threaten life and destroy property. On Earth, a little water, maybe some chemicals, and the fire is smothered. In space, where there is no up or down, flames behave in unconventional ways. And when your entire world is the size of a five-bedroom home like the International Space Station, putting out even a small fire quickly is a life-and-death matter.

Since March 2009, NASA's Flame Extinguishment Experiment, or FLEX, has conducted more than 200 tests to better understand the fundamentals of flames and how best to suppress fire in space. The investigation is currently ongoing aboard the space station.

"We hope to gain a better knowledge of droplet burning, improved spacecraft fire safety and ideas for more efficient utilization of liquid fuels on earth," Principal Investigator Forman Williams, University of California, San Diego, said. "The experiments will be used to verify numerical models that calculate droplet burning under different conditions."

"Coming Back Down to our Fragile Oasis," featuring Peter Gabriel's "Down to Earth"

A time-lapse video is about as close as we can come to show what astronauts see in space. This time-lapse video is a collaboration between images taken by Ron Garan and Mike Fossum from the International Space Station and music from Peter Gabriel. The music featured in the video is Peter Gabriel's "Down to Earth".

All of the sequences for this video were shot by either Mike Fossum or Ron Garan. Although the International Space Station travels at 17,500 mph, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes, time-lapse photography speeds up the apparent motion considerably.

The flashes of lightning throughout the video are captured by the individual frames of the photography. Yet, only a small percentage of the actual lightning is captured in the imagery. While the video is sped up, it still accurately captures the paparazzi-look of lightening storms as we see them from space. While still onboard the ISS, Peter Gabriel and Ron Garan brainstormed some ideas for using this type of imagery to help tell the Fragile Oasis story. The hope with this video and others like it is to help people follow the missions not as spectators, but as crewmembers, inspired to help improve life on our planet.

New Crew Launches to Join Expedition 29

Expedition 29 crew members Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin and Dan Burbank are on their way to the International Space Station. The Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft carrying the new trio launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 11:14 p.m. EST Sunday (10:14 a.m. Baikonur time Monday).

The Soyuz TMA-22 will dock to the Poisk mini-research module at 12:33 a.m. Wednesday. Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum and Flight Engineers Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov will welcome their new crewmates a little while later when they open the hatches about 2:55 a.m. Shkaplerov, Ivanishin and Burbank are scheduled to live and work aboard the orbiting laboratory until March.

NASA astronaut and Flight Engineer Dan Burbank is making his third visit to the International Space Station. His previous two visits were both aboard space shuttle Atlantis. He helped prepare the station for its first crew during STS-106 and helped install the P3/P4 truss during STS-115.

Socializing Science With Smartphones in Space

One may think that participation with the International Space Station would be restricted to an exclusive club of high ranking officials and agencies. In actuality, students, teachers and commercial companies have also been taking advantage of the station's unique environment for years. One of those commercial companies, Houston-based Odyssey Space Research, plans to bring the experience to the rest of us via our mobile devices!

International Space Station National Laboratory partner NanoRacks LLC has a collaboration with Odyssey and Apple. This relationship enabled Odyssey to send two iPhone 4's to the space station as part of the STS-135 mission on July 8, 2011. These phones are just like the ones you can find at the store, but with certain alterations to meet NASA flight certification standards. It took less than a year to make the necessary changes and launch the devices to the station.

The iPhone 4 was selected for its mix of features, according to Odyssey CEO Brian Rishikof. "It had a three-axis gyro, and accelerometer, a high resolution camera and screen, and the means to manipulate the image. We had done some projects in the past that used all those features, but of course it was big, dedicated equipment and suddenly here it is in this small little package," said Rishikof.

Calling the Caribbean from the International Space Station

Close to 300 students in the Caribbean got a very long distance call from the International Space Station on Monday, Aug. 8, 2011. Crew members aboard the station used the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, to make contact with their eager audience on the ground. The goal was to inspire students and educators via an interactive space experience. This was the first ARISS communication for the Caribbean region.

The ARISS conversations usually last about 10 minutes. During that time, chosen students on the ground ask questions, which the crew answers from the space station. Questions during the Caribbean contact ranged from how space travel affects human health and how the space station was powered and maneuvered to concerns about space debris. Students also wanted to know what it was like to be an astronaut, asking about the most difficult aspects of the job.

Students prepared by learning about the space station, radio waves and how amateur radio works, as well as proposing questions to ask the crew. Ken Ransom, project coordinator with the International Space Station Ham Radio Program, points out the educational benefits of the approximately 50 conversations that take place every year. "The ARISS program is all about inspiring and encouraging by reaching the community and providing a chance for schools to interact with local technical experts. It also brings the space program to their front door."

Russian Spacewalkers to Move Cargo Boom, Deploy Ham Radio Satellite

Two Russian cosmonauts will leave the confines of the International Space Station on Aug.3 to move a cargo boom from one airlock to another, install a prototype laser communications system and deploy an amateur radio micro-satellite.

Expedition 28 Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov and Alexander Samokutyaev are scheduled to venture outside the Pirs airlock at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday to begin the six-hour excursion. Both spacewalkers will wear Russian Orlan-MK spacesuits. Coverage of the spacewalk will be broadcast live on NASA Television beginning at 10 a.m. EDT. Volkov, making his third spacewalk, and Samokutyaev, making his first, will both wear spacesuits marked with blue stripes. Volkov’s previous two spacewalks occurred while he was Expedition 17 commander in 2008.

During the spacewalk, Commander Andrey Borisenko and NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan will close the hatches on the Poisk docking module, which is opposite the Pirs airlock, and seal the hatches between Zvezda and Poisk. This gives them access to their Soyuz 26 spacecraft, protects against the unlikely possibility of a sudden station depressurization and allows the forward transfer compartment of Zvezda to be used as a backup airlock. Flight Engineers Mike Fossum of NASA, and Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will be in the U.S. segment and will have access to their Soyuz 27 spacecraft, which is docked to the Rassvet module.

Voyage to Vaccine Discovery Continues with Space Station Salmonella Study

Any scientist can tell you that research is a time-consuming pursuit. In fact, it can take decades to show results, as the knowledge compounds and inspires additional studies. This building of information is what led to the Recombinant Attenuated Salmonella Vaccine or RASV investigation, which launched to the International Space Station on July 8, 2011.

The investigation combines decades of expertise between two Arizona State University research teams. One team, led by Cheryl Nickerson, Ph.D. specializes in the use of the spaceflight platform to provide insight into how microbial pathogens cause infection and disease in the human body. The other team, led by Roy Curtiss III, Ph.D. focuses on the design and clinical testing of next generation vaccines to protect against diseases caused by pathogenic microbes. In addition, the Arizona State University researchers partnered with Mark Ott, Ph.D., at NASA's Johnson Space Center to strengthen the team's core expertise of space microbiology.

The vaccine samples that were flown on STS-135 are a genetically altered strain of Salmonella that carries a protective antigen against Streptococcus pneumonia -- a bacteria that causes life-threatening diseases, such as pneumonia, meningitis, and bacteremia. This organism is responsible for more than 10 million deaths annually and is particularly dangerous for newborns and the elderly, as they are less responsive to current anti-pneumococcal vaccines. "We have the opportunity," commented Nickerson, "to utilize spaceflight as a unique research and development platform for novel applications with potential to help fight a globally devastating disease."

Unique 'Portrait' Of Shuttle and International Space Station Released

Newly-released portraits show the International Space Station together with the space shuttle, the vehicle that helped build the complex during the last decade. The pictures are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

On May 23, the Soyuz was carrying Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli back to Earth. Once their vehicle was about 600 feet from the station, Mission Control Moscow, outside the Russian capital, commanded the orbiting laboratory to rotate 130 degrees. This move allowed Nespoli to capture digital photographs and high definition video of shuttle Endeavour docked to the station.

The Soyuz landed in Kazakhstan and was taken to Moscow for routine post-landing analysis. NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, then processed the imagery as part of the standard disposition of spacecraft cargo.

NASA Administrator Bolden to Open Exploration Symposium

NASA and the Georgia Institute of Technology will review the achievements of the agency's Space Shuttle Program and look ahead to the future of space exploration during a symposium June 6-8.Georgia Tech will host "The Space Shuttle: An Engineering Milestone" at the university's Global Learning Center at 84 5th Street NW in Atlanta. The event is open to media.

The symposium will bring together an international group of scientists, technologists, engineers, mission designers, policymakers and students to discuss the shuttle era's significant contributions and exchange ideas about the future of space transportation.

"The Space Shuttle Program has accomplished many amazing things for the entire world," Bolden said. "Not least of which is the construction of the International Space Station, which will anchor our human spaceflight activities for the coming decade. It will provide unparalleled opportunities for critical research and technology demonstrations that will help us reach destinations farther in the solar system."

International Space Station Water System Successfully Activated

NASA has announced the successful activation of new hardware that will support water production services aboard the International Space Station. The Sabatier system can create up to 530 gallons of water per year from byproducts of the station's Oxygen Generation System and Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly. The process is named for Paul Sabatier, a 1912 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. "This is an important step forward in NASA's commercialization endeavors and shows how successful private industry can be at providing solutions on its own," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for Space Operations at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "The ability to produce this water will be important for sustaining space station operations once the shuttle is retired."

The system was integrated into the space station's Water Recovery System during the week of Oct. 11. Activation, checkout and first use of the system were completed Oct. 22, running for over eight hours. The Sabatier process uses a nickel catalyst to interact with hydrogen and carbon dioxide at elevated temperatures and pressures to produce water and methane. The water is retained for recycling processes, and the methane is vented outside of the space station. Prior to adding the Sabatier system, hydrogen produced while generating station oxygen was considered waste gas and vented overboard. Carbon dioxide generated by crew metabolism also was vented overboard. With the Sabatier system, these two former waste gases will generate a valuable product for the space station: water.

Under contract to NASA, Hamilton Sundstrand supplied the flight hardware and operational support for a Sabatier-reaction-based system that operates as part of the station's Environmental Control and Life Support System. This contract is unique because NASA did not participate in design reviews or impose any specifications on the design, except for those defined in the safety, interface and acceptance requirements met by Hamilton Sundstrand. The company developed, procured, and built the flight hardware and support equipment needed for operations and training. The in-orbit operational portion of the contract runs until Sept. 30, 2014.

NASA Chief Heads to China Amid Lawmaker Concerns

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden left for Beijing Oct. 15 amid mixed congressional response to Bolden's plans to meet with Chinese officials to discuss the possible for cooperation in human spaceflight. Two House Republicans and a Democrat representing the Congressional U.S. China Working Group write Bolden Oct. 12 to express their sustain for the five day trip and request the NASA chief raise the possibility of a "joint-rescue capability in space that would allow the U.S., China and Russia to save each other's space crews."

The letter, signed by Reps. Rick Larsen, Charles Boustany and Mark Kirk, said Bolden should think developing a common docking interface for space capsules capable of attainment the international space station, including the Chinese Shenzhou, Russian Soyuz and NASA's Orion crew capsule, which the agency is still planning to expand for use as a crew lifeboat on the orbiting outpost. "As NASA develops the new Crew Return Vehicle based on the work previously done on the Orion crew capsule, the U.S. should begin discussion on a ordinary docking ring between the CRV, Shenzhou and Soyuz," the letter states. Other lawmakers, however, are adamantly opposite to such cooperation and made sure Bolden was aware of their displeasure.

U.S. Reps. Frank Wolf of Virginia, John Culberson of Texas and Robert Aderholt of Alabama all Republicans portion on the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee that approves NASA's annual budgets connected California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in objecting to Bolden's trip in a note sent to the NASA chief as he left town. "As you know, we have serious concerns about the nature and goals of China's space program and powerfully oppose any cooperation between NASA and China," the lawmakers wrote in the Oct. 15 letter to Bolden. "In light of the small notice and scant information provided before your departure to China, we respectfully request a full conference with you upon your return."

Layoffs Continue as NASA Slows Moon Program spend

NASA has advised contractor to anticipate reduced spending on the moon bound Constellation program it plans to terminate, prompt a new round of contractor layoffs. The U.S. space agency is bound by a 2010 law to continue funding all Constellation associated contracts until Congress enacts new appropriations legislation approving the termination or reform of the program. Although the U.S. government's 2011 budget year began Oct. 1, lawmakers failed to pass any 2011 appropriations bills before exit Washington last month until mid November, leaving NASA and the relax of the federal government to operate through Dec. 3 under a stopgap measure called a continuing declaration that funds agencies at no greater than 2010 spending levels.

For NASA, that means creation do for at least the next eight weeks with 1.5 percent less than the $19 billion the White House has budgeted for the agency for 2011. Spending on group, which includes development of the Ares I rocket and Orion crew capsule, is predictable to decline as much as 25 percent for the two months ahead, according to NASA spokesman Michael Braukus. In an Oct. 1 e-mail Braukus said NASA plans to instantly reduce its Constellation spending from an average rate of $282 million per month down to $212 million per month. If Congress fails to pass a 2011 plan when it returns in November and instead extends the continuing resolution beyond Dec. 3, "that amount will go lower," Braukus said.

Two years ago, when group was still going strong, NASA contractors were anticipate that expenditure on the program would have ramped up to an average of $540 million per month by now. Much of that money would have gone toward retain workers now facing layoffs as the space shuttle heads toward departure and the assembly phase of the International Space Station program nears completion. As NASA prepares to steadily diminish spending on the program, some Constellation contractor is responding with pink slips. Ares I major contractor Alliant TechSystems, for example, said Oct. 1 it would lay off about 300 Ares I workers in Utah this month.

International Space Station Expedition 24 Crew Lands Safely

Expedition 24 Commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko landed their Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft in Kazakhstan on Saturday, Sept. 25, wrapping up a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Skvortsov, the Soyuz commander, was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked at 10:02 p.m. EDT Friday from the Poisk module's docking port on the station's Zvezda module. The undocking and landing occurred a day later than planned because of a hatch sensor problem Thursday night. That problem prevented hooks on the Poisk side of the docking mechanism from opening. Station crew members installed a series of jumper cables, bypassing the sensor, and the Poisk module hooks retracted.

Following undocking and a normal descent, the crew landed at 1:23 a.m. near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. Russian recovery teams were on hand to help the crew exit the Soyuz vehicle and adjust to gravity after 176 days in space. Skvortsov and Kornienko will return Saturday to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow. The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in April. As members of the Expedition 23 and 24 crews, they spent 174 days on the station. Caldwell Dyson and Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock conducted three spacewalks to replace a faulty cooling pump module on the station's backbone, known as the truss.

Kornienko conducted one spacewalk to prepare the recently delivered Russian Rassvet Module for future automated dockings by Russian spacecraft. The station is occupied by Wheelock, who assumed command of the station Wednesday, NASA Flight Engineer Shannon Walker, and Russian Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin, who arrived in mid-June. A new trio of Expedition 25 crew members - NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka - will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Oct. 7 (Oct. 8 in Kazakhstan) and arrive on the station about 48 hours later.