All posts tagged: ISS

Nasa briefly loses contact with ISS after power outage and relies on backup systems for first time | Nasa

A power outage at Nasa’s building in Houston disrupted communication between mission control and the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, forcing the space agency to rely on backup control systems for the first time. The outage meant mission control lost command, telemetry and voice communications with the station in orbit. The power outage hit as upgrade work was under way in the building at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. The crew was notified of the problem through Russian communication systems, within 20 minutes of the outage. Space station program manager Joel Montalbano said neither the astronauts nor station were ever in any danger and that backup control systems took over to restore normal communications within 90 minutes. “It wasn’t an issue on board. That was purely a ground problem,” he said. “At no time was the crew or the vehicle in any danger.” “We knew this work was going on, and in preparation for that we have the backup command and control system that we would use if we have to close the centre for …

Welcome home, Ax-2 crew: Axiom Space concludes second private mission to ISS

Welcome home, Ax-2 crew: Axiom Space concludes second private mission to ISS

Axiom Space‘s second private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) concluded late Tuesday, with a four-person crew splashing down off the west coast of Florida around 11 PM EST. The splashdown marks another win for Axiom, the private company that operated the mission, and SpaceX, which launched and returned the crew inside a Dragon crew capsule. This was Axiom’s second private human spaceflight mission to the ISS and SpaceX’s tenth time launching humans to the orbital lab and back. “SpaceX, we would like to tell you, that was a phenomenal ride,” mission commander Peggy Whitson said shortly after splashdown. “We really enjoyed all of it.” Image credit: SpaceX The Ax-2 crew includes Whitson, former NASA astronaut and Axiom’s director of human spaceflight; pilot John Shoffner; and Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, both astronauts from Saudi Arabia. Alqarni and Barnawi are the first Saudi astronauts to visit the ISS. Whitson has now spent a total of 674 days in space – a record for any other American or woman. While aboard the ISS, the Ax-2 …

Axiom Space gears up for second private human spaceflight mission to ISS

Axiom Space gears up for second private human spaceflight mission to ISS

Axiom Space’s second private crewed mission to the International Space Station is now scheduled to launch in just ten days, with the four-person crew preparing to conduct more than twenty scientific experiments while in space. The Ax-2 mission will now launch no earlier than 5:37 PM EST on May 21 from SpaceX’s Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The crew will travel to the station onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule, where they’ll remain for a roughly 10-day stint. This will mark the second fully private crew to visit the ISS; the first mission, also operated by Axiom Space, took place in April 2022. The crew includes Peggy Whitson, the mission commander and Axiom’s director of human spaceflight; John Shoffner, the pilot; Ali Alqarni, mission specialist; and Rayyanah Barnawi, also a mission specialist. Alqarni and Barnawi are both members of Saudi Arabia’s first astronaut class, and will be the first people from that country to visit the ISS. Shoffner, an Axiom investor, is the only paying customer on the …