Traffic at the International Space Station

This has been a busy weekend on the International Space Station (ISS), where the amazing has become mundane. 

First, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft delivered three new crew members to the station - US astronaut Robert Shane and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko.  One could even argue a fourth crew member accompanied them - the relics of Saint Seraphim of Sarov.  

Second, Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo ship also arrived at the ISS.  Orbital ATK knows these missions are not mundane having lost a rocket and Cygnus cargo ship two years ago.

Someday we may see such traffic heading to the Moon and Mars as well.  However, the Orbital ATK mishap, SpaceX rocket explosions, and recent ExoMars lander failure shows that the space industry is still facing enormous risks. Fortunately, all of the missions just named did not involve human passengers. That adds a whole new level of risk and related risk management. 

Image Credit:  The photo at the top from NASA shows the new six-member Expedition 49 crew gathers in the Zvezda service module. The three newest arrivals (front row from left) Andrey Borisenko, Sergey Ryzhikov and Shane Kimbrough talk to family members and mission officials back on Earth. In the back row from left are, Kate Rubins, Anatoly Ivanishin and Takuya Onishi. The bottom photo shows the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship arriving at the ISS and is also from NASA.

Fire Prevention in Space

This week NASA has set fire to a Cygnus space capsule after it departed from the International Space Station as part of its SAFFIRE mission (or Spacecraft Fire Experiment). The space agency hopes to learn more about fire safety in space.

Yes, 4,000 pounds of dirty laundry are burning in space. Okay, it's not the whole craft since more experiments will be conducted with the same spacecraft.

Speaking of the mission, David Urban, SAFFIRE’s principal investigator, stared:

In spacecraft, we’ve never had the opportunity to burn anything larger than approximately an index card…We really don’t know what the fate of a fire is. So our building of future spacecraft is based on one-G understanding and extrapolation of very small, short-duration experiments.

Better now as an experiment than later as an event.

Planned Disaster

International Space Station (ISS) replenishment work continued with yesterday's launch of the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargoship. Everything went as planned.

Now the question is whether a planned disaster will also go well.  In May, the ISS will release the Cygnus cargoship so it can be set afire in space. This controlled burn will help NASA understand and prepare for such potential disasters in the future.

It is all very interesting. SpaceX is trying to safely retrieve all of its equipment whereas Orbital ATK, which doesn't even have its own rockets, is intentionally destroying its only asset.

Update:  The Cygnus cargoship arrived safely at the ISS on March 26th.  Here is a video of the capture of the ship.

Orbital ATK Back in the Station Business

Orbital ATK is back after a rough year. The successful Sunday launch of the Cygnus capsule aboard an Atlas V rocket put the company back in rotation for International Space Station (ISS) resupply missions, even if it has yet to field its own rocket. This is also the maiden voyage of an Atlas V rocket in an ISS mission.

The Cygnus spacecraft will arrive at the space station tomorrow morning.  The payload includes items lost in recent mission failures (three in a little over a year). 

Update:  The Cygnus space capsule (pictured below) safely arrived at the ISS Wednesday morning.  According to NASA, Cygnus has a diverse payload:

Science payloads will support science and research investigations that will occur during the space station’s Expeditions 45 and 46, including experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science -- research that impacts life on Earth. Investigations will offer a new life science facility that will support studies on cell cultures, bacteria and other microorganisms, a microsatellite deployer and the first microsatellite that will be deployed from the space station, and experiments that will study the behavior of gases and liquids and clarify the thermo-physical properties of molten steel and evaluations of flame-resistant textiles

In its press release announcing the successful mission, Orbital ATK stated it hopes to begin using its own Antares rocket by next year:

Under the CRS contract with NASA, Orbital ATK will deliver approximately 62,000 pounds (28,000 kilograms) of cargo to the ISS over 10 missions through 2018. To date, the company has delivered more than seven tons of essential supplies to the ISS since the first mission conducted in early 2014, with three additional CRS missions scheduled for 2016. Another Cygnus mission will be launched on an Atlas V in March, after which Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket will launch at least two ISS resupply missions in the second and fourth quarters of 2016.

Disaster Strikes Orbital Sciences' Rocket

Orbital Sciences' third resupply mission to the International Space Station ended in disaster earlier today as the rocket exploded shortly after liftoff in Virginia. Fortunately, the mission was only carrying cargo and not astronauts. Expect an extensive inquiry.  Stay tuned.

Update: I corrected my posting to note this was Orbital Science's third planned mission to the ISS. In terms of the accident, the company's website stated:

Orbital Sciences Corporation confirms that today’s Antares rocket launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility was not successful. Shortly after lift-off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at 6:22 p.m. (EDT), the vehicle suffered a catastrophic failure. According to NASA’s emergency operations officials, there were no casualties and property damage was limited to the south end of Wallops Island. Orbital has formed an anomaly investigation board, which will work in close coordination with all appropriate government agencies, to determine the cause of today’s mishap.

This may mean more work for SpaceX to pick up the slack.

Cygnus a Success

The International Space Station (ISS) crew welcomed the Cygnus spacecraft yesterday as it resupplies the station with a variety of items, including spacewalking equipment, Earth-imaging nanosatellites, and hardware to  allow free-flying robots to conduct 3-D mapping inside the station. Nanosatelites?  Free-floating robots?  The ISS appears to be an experiment base for the next phase of the space program, which sounds like a very useful role.

This private space launch by Orbital Sciences represents the second successful mission by this company in addition to the multiple successful missions by SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.  All of this fares well for a nation that wants to become more independent of the Russians and fill in a gap left by the previous Space Shuttle missions.