by David Todd | Jul 4, 2016 | International Space Station, NASA, Russia, Satellites, space station
The cargo spacecraft Progress MS-01 was deliberately undocked from the International Space Station on at 0545 on 1 July. The idea was for the spacecraft to pull away and then use a new version of the Toru remote manual control system with new software and a new signal...
by David Todd | Apr 12, 2016 | commercial launch services, space station, Technology
The Boeing/Lockheed Martin-owned United Launch Alliance (ULA) has declared in the Denver Post that it will cut 375 jobs out of its total of 3,400 in 2016. The firm expects the majority of these to be achieved relatively painlessly via voluntary redundancies. However,...
by David Todd | Mar 21, 2016 | History, International Space Station, Launches, Russia, Soyuz, space station
At 2126 GMT on 18 March 2015, a Soyuz-FG launch vehicle successfully lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan. Before the launch from Pad 1, Soyuz Commander and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and...
by David Todd | Feb 19, 2016 | Apollo, History, NASA, Seradata News, Space Shuttle, space station
While USA decides whether or not it wants to continue with the International Space Station, whose cost-effectiveness is often criticised given its very high cost (US$100 billion and counting), it was not, of course, America’s first foray into space station...
by David Todd | Jan 4, 2016 | International Space Station, NASA, Seradata News, space station
On 17 Dec 2015 the Mobile Transporter carrying Canadarm-2 robot arm became jammed on the rail on worksite due to a jammed brake on an attached cart. As the jammed robot arm was deemed a safety issue, an unscheduled spacewalk was ordered. Astronauts Scott Kelly and...
by David Todd | Nov 10, 2015 | On a Lighter Note, Seradata News, Space Shuttle, space station
While this column has previously noted that astronauts on long missions might be prone to premature dementia due to cosmic and solar radiation’s effect on the brain, a way to detect this before the said astronaut becomes a danger to the rest of the crew might now be...
