OrbitalHub

NASA dixit:

“On April 22, hours arriving at the International Space Station, Orbital ATK’s Cygnus resupply ship was captured by Expedition 51 Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency and Commander Peggy Whitson of NASA using the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Later, Cygnus was installed to the Earth-facing port of the Unity module where it will reside for the next three months. Cygnus is packed with 7,600 pounds of supplies and research for the crew aboard the orbiting laboratory.”

Video credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“October 12, 1997. Launch Complex 40: The second Titan IVB/Centaur (Model 401), with Cassini/Huygens on board. At Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station, the Mobile Service Tower has been retracted away from the Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini spacecraft, marking a major milestone in the launch countdown sequence. Retraction of the structure began about an hour later than scheduled due to minor problems with ground support equipment. The launch vehicle, Cassini spacecraft and attached Centaur stage encased in a payload fairing, altogether stand about 183 feet tall; mounted at the base of the launch vehicle are two upgraded solid rocket motors. Liftoff of Cassini on the journey to Saturn and its moon Titan is slated to occur during a window opening at 4:55 a.m. EDT, Oct. 13, and extending through 7:15 a.m.”

“After almost 20 years in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft begins the final chapter of its remarkable story of exploration: its Grand Finale. Between April and September 2017, Cassini will undertake a daring set of orbits that is, in many ways, like a whole new mission. Following a final close flyby of Saturn’s moon Titan, Cassini will leap over the planet’s icy rings and begin a series of 22 weekly dives between the planet and the rings.

No other mission has ever explored this unique region. What we learn from these final orbits will help to improve our understanding of how giant planets – and planetary systems everywhere – form and evolve.

On the final orbit, Cassini will plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, sending back new and unique science to the very end. After losing contact with Earth, the spacecraft will burn up like a meteor, becoming part of the planet itself.

Cassini’s Grand Finale is about so much more than the spacecraft’s final dive into Saturn. That dramatic event is the capstone of six months of daring exploration and scientific discovery. (And those six months are the thrilling final chapter in a historic 20-year journey.)”

Image credit: NASA

NASA dixit:

“After launching earlier in the day in their Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 51-52 Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA arrived at the International Space Station April 20 to complete a six-hour journey, docking their vehicle to the Poisk module on the Russian segment of the complex.”

Video credit: NASA/Roscosmos

NASA dixit:

“The sun emitted a trio of mid-level solar flares on April 2-3, 2017. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured images of the three events.”

Video credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Genna Duberstein

Music credit: A Waltz into Darkness by Joseph Bennie

NASA dixit:

“July 22, 1997. Flight mechanics from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., lower the Cassini spacecraft onto its launch vehicle adapter in KSC’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. The adapter will later be mated to a Titan IV/Centaur expendable launch vehicle that will lift Cassini into space. Scheduled for launch in October, the Cassini mission, a joint US-European four-year orbital surveillance of Saturn’s atmosphere and magnetosphere, its rings, and its moons, seeks insight into the origins and evolution of the early solar system. It will take seven years for the spacecraft to reach Saturn. JPL is managing the Cassini project for NASA.”

“After almost 20 years in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft begins the final chapter of its remarkable story of exploration: its Grand Finale. Between April and September 2017, Cassini will undertake a daring set of orbits that is, in many ways, like a whole new mission. Following a final close flyby of Saturn’s moon Titan, Cassini will leap over the planet’s icy rings and begin a series of 22 weekly dives between the planet and the rings.

No other mission has ever explored this unique region. What we learn from these final orbits will help to improve our understanding of how giant planets – and planetary systems everywhere – form and evolve.

On the final orbit, Cassini will plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, sending back new and unique science to the very end. After losing contact with Earth, the spacecraft will burn up like a meteor, becoming part of the planet itself.

Cassini’s Grand Finale is about so much more than the spacecraft’s final dive into Saturn. That dramatic event is the capstone of six months of daring exploration and scientific discovery. (And those six months are the thrilling final chapter in a historic 20-year journey.)”

Image credit: NASA

JAXA dixit:

“The H3 Launch Vehicle is a large-size next-generation launch vehicle whose maiden flight is scheduled in Japan Fiscal Year 2020 from the Tanegashima Space Center. H3 is under development to be a successor to the H-IIA Launch Vehicle, the current mainstay launch vehicle, in order to maintain Japan’s autonomous access to space.

Recently, many satellites that are closely related to our lives have been transported to space, thus utilizing space has become part of our daily lives. Under such a progressive society, H3 is aiming to become a launch vehicle that attracts people’s attention not only in Japan but also globally as an easy-to-use space transportation system.

For H3 to succeed, JAXA will modernize the overall launch vehicle based on our experience cultivated through the development and operation of H-IIA. In that sense, we face technological challenges including the development of a new large liquid engine (LE-9) and solid rocket boosters (SRB-3). Technologies developed for H3 will be applied to the Epsilon Launch Vehicle.

JAXA and related companies will make active use of Japanese technologies in various fields to develop the new launch vehicle.”

Video credit: JAXA