0091-EX-ST-2025 [Jan 16]QuoteThe reason for this STA request is that although the mission will last only a few days after deployment from the ISS, which will occur no earlier than TBD, we need the STA relatively soon. This satellite is going to the ISS on a Cargo Resupply Mission, NG-22. NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) spectrum office requires the spacecraft FCC license to initiate the processing of a Request for Frequency Authorization (RFA), which they require to start by 2/13/2025.The overall goal of the Alpha mission is to serve as a technical demonstration of a light sail in orbit, verifying the mechanical properties of the polycarbonate material. Also, the sail architecture will demonstrate key functions of next-generation ChipSats. Alpha comprises a 1U CubeSat capable of deploying a free-flying 1m x 1m light sail in response to ground commands. The sail has a sensor-equipped ChipSat attached to each of the 4 corners. These will transmit GPS data to the Cornell University ground station, enabling tracking of the sail to about 10 m accuracy.Operation Start Date: 06/20/2025Operation End Date: 07/20/2025
The reason for this STA request is that although the mission will last only a few days after deployment from the ISS, which will occur no earlier than TBD, we need the STA relatively soon. This satellite is going to the ISS on a Cargo Resupply Mission, NG-22. NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) spectrum office requires the spacecraft FCC license to initiate the processing of a Request for Frequency Authorization (RFA), which they require to start by 2/13/2025.The overall goal of the Alpha mission is to serve as a technical demonstration of a light sail in orbit, verifying the mechanical properties of the polycarbonate material. Also, the sail architecture will demonstrate key functions of next-generation ChipSats. Alpha comprises a 1U CubeSat capable of deploying a free-flying 1m x 1m light sail in response to ground commands. The sail has a sensor-equipped ChipSat attached to each of the 4 corners. These will transmit GPS data to the Cornell University ground station, enabling tracking of the sail to about 10 m accuracy.Operation Start Date: 06/20/2025Operation End Date: 07/20/2025
MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. The undocking of the Progress MS-28 cargo ship and the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled for February 25, according to a report on the cosmonauts' activities on the Russian segment of the ISS."[Preparation] of equipment for removal in the Progress MS-28 cargo ship before the undocking scheduled for February 25 has been completed," the report says.The ship was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on August 15 of this year and docked with the Zvezda module of the Russian segment of the ISS two days later.Progress MS is a Russian unmanned spacecraft that was created specifically to service orbital stations. It is used to deliver various cargoes (fuel, scientific equipment, oxygen, water, food, etc.) to the ISS, as well as to correct its orbit.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore began a spacewalk at approximately 7:43 a.m. EST to remove a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss, collect samples of surface material for analysis from the Destiny laboratory and the Quest airlock to see whether microorganisms may exist on the exterior of the orbital complex, and prepare a spare elbow joint for the Canadarm2 robotic arm...
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore concluded their spacewalk at 1:09 p.m. EST Jan. 30. It was the ninth spacewalk for Williams and the fifth for Wilmore, and it was the 274th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. Williams surpassed former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson’s record for total spacewalking time by a female astronaut. Williams now has 62 hours, 6 minutes of total spacewalk time, fourth on NASA’s all-time list.Williams and Wilmore completed their primary objectives, including removing a radio frequency group antenna assembly from the station’s truss and collecting samples of surface material for analysis from the Destiny laboratory and the Quest airlock...
In the end of 2026, the AMS-02 experiment on the International Space Station will undergo a major upgrade of its apparatus: a double layer of microstrip silicon sensors, for a total area of ~ 7 m^2 and almost doubling the total area of the microstrip silicon tracker, called Layer 0 (L0) will be installed on top of the current flying apparatus.
Today, the orbit of the International Space Station was changed to support the launch of the Soyuz MS-27 manned spacecraft and the landing of the Soyuz MS-26, scheduled for April 2025.The engines of the Progress MS-28 cargo spacecraft, docked to the Zvezda service module of the Russian segment of the ISS, were activated at 11:58:00 Moscow time and, according to preliminary data from the Mission Control Center of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation), worked for 1227.2 seconds, producing an impulse of 1.82 m/s.As a result, the average altitude of the station's orbit increased by 3.2 km and amounted to 417.44 km.During the entire flight of the ISS, 373 corrections to the altitude of its orbit were performed, 214 of which were made using the engines of the Progress spacecraft.
NextSpaceflight; updated recently:Launch NET March
SFN Launch Schedule, updated February 5:28 February 10:24 p.m. MSK = 19:24 UTC
SFN Launch Schedule, updated February 5:8 April 8:47 a.m. MSK = 05:47 UTC
February 27/28 Soyuz 2.1a • Progress MS-30 / 91PLaunch time: 10:24 p.m. MSK on Feb. 28 (4:24 p.m. EST, 1924 UTC on Feb. 27)Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, KazakhstanAn uncrewed Progress cargo ship will launch atop a Russian Soyuz rocket to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. It is expected to dock with the station at 6:03 p.m. EST (2303 UTC) on March 1.
NET April 8 Soyuz 2.1a • Soyuz MS-27 / 73SLaunch time: 8:47 a.m. MSK (1:47 a.m. EDT, 0547 UTC)Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Site 31A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket will launch a three-man crew to the International Space Station. Crew commander Sergey Ryzhikov will be joined by fellow cosmonaut Alexey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. The Soyuz is set to dock with the ISS at about 5:04 a.m. EDT (0904 UTC). The spacecraft will remain docked with the orbiting outpost until about Dec. 8, 2025. This will be the third spaceflight for Ryzhikov and the first for both Zubritsky and Kim.
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 02/06/2025 01:49 pmQuote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 02/06/2025 01:46 pmhttps://arstechnica.com/space/2025/02/nasa-moves-up-target-to-return-butch-and-suni-but-not-for-political-reasons/QuoteNASA will swap Dragon spacecraft on the ground to return Butch and Suni soonerNASA can no longer wait on the development of a new Crew Dragon vehicle.ERIC BERGER – 6 FEB 2025 14:30From the article:QuoteAt this point, if NASA waited for [new Dragon] C213 to be ready to launch the Crew-10 mission, the space station program would start to approach 'redlines' on food, water, and other supplies for crew members on board the station. The agency is also juggling a lot of competing priorities in terms of cargo and crew missions to the station. The bottom line is that they really needed this crew rotation to occur sooner rather than later.According to the article this is a contingency plan that has been worked for months and is now greenlit due to delays with the new Dragon.Crew-10 currently looking at a NET March 10 launch, using Endurance (which was to have flown Axiom 4, which is now delayed to later in the Spring).The article says NET March 12.
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 02/06/2025 01:46 pmhttps://arstechnica.com/space/2025/02/nasa-moves-up-target-to-return-butch-and-suni-but-not-for-political-reasons/QuoteNASA will swap Dragon spacecraft on the ground to return Butch and Suni soonerNASA can no longer wait on the development of a new Crew Dragon vehicle.ERIC BERGER – 6 FEB 2025 14:30From the article:QuoteAt this point, if NASA waited for [new Dragon] C213 to be ready to launch the Crew-10 mission, the space station program would start to approach 'redlines' on food, water, and other supplies for crew members on board the station. The agency is also juggling a lot of competing priorities in terms of cargo and crew missions to the station. The bottom line is that they really needed this crew rotation to occur sooner rather than later.According to the article this is a contingency plan that has been worked for months and is now greenlit due to delays with the new Dragon.Crew-10 currently looking at a NET March 10 launch, using Endurance (which was to have flown Axiom 4, which is now delayed to later in the Spring).
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/02/nasa-moves-up-target-to-return-butch-and-suni-but-not-for-political-reasons/QuoteNASA will swap Dragon spacecraft on the ground to return Butch and Suni soonerNASA can no longer wait on the development of a new Crew Dragon vehicle.ERIC BERGER – 6 FEB 2025 14:30From the article:QuoteAt this point, if NASA waited for [new Dragon] C213 to be ready to launch the Crew-10 mission, the space station program would start to approach 'redlines' on food, water, and other supplies for crew members on board the station. The agency is also juggling a lot of competing priorities in terms of cargo and crew missions to the station. The bottom line is that they really needed this crew rotation to occur sooner rather than later.According to the article this is a contingency plan that has been worked for months and is now greenlit due to delays with the new Dragon.
NASA will swap Dragon spacecraft on the ground to return Butch and Suni soonerNASA can no longer wait on the development of a new Crew Dragon vehicle.ERIC BERGER – 6 FEB 2025 14:30
At this point, if NASA waited for [new Dragon] C213 to be ready to launch the Crew-10 mission, the space station program would start to approach 'redlines' on food, water, and other supplies for crew members on board the station. The agency is also juggling a lot of competing priorities in terms of cargo and crew missions to the station. The bottom line is that they really needed this crew rotation to occur sooner rather than later.
Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 02/07/2025 09:57 pmAccording to CNES, which is flying their Pharao atomic clock to the ISS on this Dragon, the launch is now NET April 21.QuoteFrench space: 10 dates in 2025 not to be missedPharao, an atomic clock in space📅 April 21Cold atom clocks are currently the best operational clocks on Earth. But the weightless environment characteristic of an orbit would make it possible to further increase their accuracy… This is the challenge of the Pharao mission : the French clock of the same name should leave our planet on April 21 as part of the European ACES ( Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space ) mission to be placed in orbit around the Earth on the International Space Station (ISS), at an altitude of 400 km.The Pharao clock will be fixed outside the Station on a balcony of the Columbus module, the European scientific laboratory. It should deviate by at most one second every 300 million years! This extreme accuracy, coupled with the integration of Pharao into a time comparison network, will notably make it possible to verify with increased precision the effects predicted by the theory of general relativity, according to which time slows down near any mass. See you in April for this wonderful history of time!
According to CNES, which is flying their Pharao atomic clock to the ISS on this Dragon, the launch is now NET April 21.
French space: 10 dates in 2025 not to be missedPharao, an atomic clock in space📅 April 21Cold atom clocks are currently the best operational clocks on Earth. But the weightless environment characteristic of an orbit would make it possible to further increase their accuracy… This is the challenge of the Pharao mission : the French clock of the same name should leave our planet on April 21 as part of the European ACES ( Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space ) mission to be placed in orbit around the Earth on the International Space Station (ISS), at an altitude of 400 km.The Pharao clock will be fixed outside the Station on a balcony of the Columbus module, the European scientific laboratory. It should deviate by at most one second every 300 million years! This extreme accuracy, coupled with the integration of Pharao into a time comparison network, will notably make it possible to verify with increased precision the effects predicted by the theory of general relativity, according to which time slows down near any mass. See you in April for this wonderful history of time!
In connection with the signing of the third supplement to the agreement between the Roscosmos State Corporation and NASA on cross-flights of Russian cosmonauts on American Crew Dragon ships and American astronauts on Russian Soyuz MS ships under the International Space Station program, changes have been made to the composition of the main and backup crews of long-term expeditions planned for 2025-2026.NASA astronaut Christopher Williams has been appointed to the main crew of the 74th long-term expedition (launch on the Soyuz MS-28 ship in the fall of 2025), which includes Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, instead of Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.Oleg Platonov has been included in the crew of the Crew Dragon ship (mission Crew-11), the launch of which is planned for the second half of 2025.Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina has been appointed to the prime crew of ISS-75 (launched on Soyuz MS-29 in the summer of 2026), which includes Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov. Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Korsakov has been replaced by Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, and NASA astronaut Anil Menon Samoylenko has been appointed to replace Anna Kikina. Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev has been included in the crew of the Crew Dragon spacecraft (mission Crew-12), the launch of which is scheduled for the first half of 2026.
It seems that an EVA is planned with Onishi to replace the camera of the Kibo robotic arm.https://x.com/Astro_Onishi/status/1888060545472831727
A Falcon 9 will launch NASA's Crew-10 to the International Space Station from pad 39A on March 12 at 7:48 p.m. EDT. Sunset is 7:29 p.m. The first stage will land back at the Cape about eight minutes after launch.
The handover of the flight model of the "Gifu High School Sat (GHS)1" to JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) has been completed, and GHS team students reported the handover to President YOSHIDA Kazuhiro on Monday, December 23, 2024.The creation of the flight model is being carried out as part of the activities of 'Gifu Space Project Study Meeting,2' a joint initiative by Gifu University and the Gifu Prefectural Government. Technical high school students in the prefecture, along with Gifu University undergraduate and graduate students, have been collaborating on the development of the flight model. Their flight model has passed JAXA's safety review and will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket through NASA in April 2025. After being transported to the International Space Station, it is scheduled to be deployed into orbit about a month later to conduct exercises such as photographing the Earth and estimating orbits through radio reception with high school students from Lithuania and Australia.
STARS-Me2...■□■History■□■◆2024/12/20: Loaded onto J-SSOD at Tsukuba Space Center.◆2024/12/04: Delivered to JAXA at Tsukuba Space Center.
Satellite Name e-kagaku-1... Launch Date Early-Mid 2025
Thursday, Feb. 274 p.m. | Launch coverage of the Progress 91 spacecraft to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch scheduled for 4:24 p.m. Stream on NASA+Saturday, March 15:15 p.m. | Coverage of the rendezvous and docking of the Progress 91 spacecraft to the International Space Station. Docking scheduled for 6:03 p.m. Stream on NASA+
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is focused on in-space materials and manufacturing and has developed a high-precision, in-space composite-forming process. They have partnered with Voyager Space aiming for launch to the International Space Station aboard NASA’s Commercial Resupply Mission NG-24, tentatively scheduled for April 2026. Their demo will take place in the Bishop Airlock module attached to the space station.
