Category: International Space Station

Delayed several days due to technical glitches that occurred after its launch, the Russian Nauka Multipurpose Logisitics Module Upgrade docks with the International Space Station. Some glitches continue to occur during the modules approach and docking phase, with the Russian crew members aboard the station manually intervening when necessary. After docking, however, Nauka’s thrusters begin firing, rotating the station 45 degrees off-axis, eventually exhausting its fuel supply. Once its thrusters are no longer capable of moving the station, the station is restored to its original orientation, with NASA reassuring the public that the event posed no danger to the crew. Some spacewalks will be required to fully connect Nauka’s systems to those of the rest of the station, but it is expected to become the hub of Russia’s research activity aboard the ISS.

Russia launches the Nauka Multipurpose Logistics Module Upgrade component of the International Space Station. Part of the original design for the ISS, Nauka was built in time to be launched in 2007, but its addition to the station was repeatedly delayed, missing planned launch windows in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020. Parts of Nakua required upgrades and replacements over the years that it awaited launch, as these parts began to fail certification due to their age. (Much of the module was 14 years old before it ever made it to the launch pad.) Nakua, designed to automatically rendezvous and dock with the station, begins encountering technical problems once it is in orbit, delaying the docking maneuver. It replaces the Russian Pirs module, which becomes the first ISS module to be detached and allowed to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.

The International Space Station reaches a major milestone, marking two decades of constant human presence in space. Despite close calls with space debris, reduced staffing in the months following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, coolant leaks requiring spacewalks, and losses of resupply vehicles, the orbiting laboratory has maintained a steady human presence in space.

For the first time since the final Space Shuttle flights in 2011, a new habitation module is attached to the International Space Station. Brought to orbit via a recent Dragon unmanned cargo craft, the BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module), constructed by Bigelow Aerospace based on ideas studied by NASA in the 1990s, is a test of a reinforced, inflatible crew module for the station. (The inflation of the module will be accomplished via a supply of air built into the module itself.) Not to be inflated and occupied until May, BEAM will be studied for its resistance to solar radiation and micrometeroid impacts over a two-year period. Bigelow already has plans for an independent, commercial space station utilizing similar inflatible designs if BEAM’s tour of duty is a success, and has previously orbited testbed models of inflatible station modules.

SpaceX launches the unmanned Dragon CRS-8 (Commercial Resupply Mission 8) to the International Space Station, carrying supplies and experiments, as well as delivering via its cargo trunk the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), the first new addition to the ISS since 2011. The flight is a success, and for the first time, the Falcon 9 first stage returns intact to an unmanned drone barge in the Atlantic Ocean, where it can be refurbished and reused. Though SpaceX has previously brought an intact booster down on dry land, this is the first success in several attempts to recover the spent first stage at sea.

Having traveled to the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 43 crew, astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko return to Earth after their heavily-publicized “One-Year Mission”, along with cosmonaut Sergey Volkov. Though the duration of the “One-Year Mission” is closer to 11 months, Kelly has broken the American record for continuous time spent in space. NASA hopes medical data gathered during his stay will help to keep future astronauts healthy, both physically and mentally, on long-term flights to such future destinations as Mars.

A relatively routine spacewalk at the International Space Station is cut short when astronaut Tim Kopra notices a globule of water in the helmet of his spacesuit. Perhaps mindful of a far more serious incident in 2013, NASA calls off the spacewalk, ordering Kopra and fellow astronaut Tim Peake – the first British spacewalker – back inside the station.

An unmanned Progress cargo vehicle, designated Progress M-27M, is launched by Russia to ferry 6,000 pounds of supplies, equipment and experiments to the International Space Station. But Progress ends up in the wrong orbit, tumbling out of control, with Russian ground controllers unable to send remote commands to the vehicle. Plans to dock the Progress capsule to the ISS are called off as further attempts are made to regain control; since the Progress is in the wrong orbit, it poses no present danger to the station.

An unexpected malfunction destroys Orbital Sciences’ unmanned Cygnus cargo spacecraft a mere six seconds after its Antares booster rocket leaves the ground. Supplies and experiments bound for the International Space Station aboard the S.S. Deke Slayton (named after the late Mercury and Apollo/Soyuz astronaut) are destroyed in the explosion, along with several small secondary satellite payloads. Orbital Sciences and NASA begin an investigation into the accident, and cleanup of debris and damage at the Wallops Island launch facility begins.

Orbital Sciences and NASA launch the second Cygnus unmanned cargo freighter to the International Space Station. Named after a recently deceased Shuttle astronaut, the S.S. Janice Voss carries over 3,000 pounds of new equipment and supplies to the station, where it remains docked for a month.

The third SpaceX Dragon unmanned resupply mission to the International Space Station lifts off, testing a new version of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster rocket which incorporates landing legs and an attitude control system designed to return the booster’s first stage safely to Earth for possible reuse. The attitude control system succeeds in cancelling out the booster’s roll and brings the first stage down for a controlled splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The Dragon capsule goes on to dock with the ISS two days later.

Having successfully demonstrated a working model of the Cygnus unmanned cargo spacecraft in 2013, Orbital Sciences delivers its first Cygnus vehicle under a new commercial resupply contract with NASA. The S.S. C. Gordon Fullerton (named for one of the earliest Shuttle astronauts, now deceased) cargo ship lifts off from Wallops Island, carrying nearly 2,800 pounds of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. It will remain docked at the ISS for 36 days.

Orbital Sciences’ unmanned Cygnus cargo spacecraft is grappled and docked to the International Space Station via remote manipulator arm. This demonstration model of the Cygnus cargo ship had been launched ten days earlier via Orbital Sciences’ Antares booster from Wallops Island, Virginia. With 1,300 pounds of crew supplies, experiments and other cargo aboard, the Cygnus vehicle is expected to remain attached to the station for a full month before being jettisoned to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

A two-man spacewalk outside the International Space Station is called off when water begins collecting inside the helmet of astronaut Luca Parmitano’s spacesuit. Originally scheduled as a six-and-a-half-hour maintenance spacewalk, the EVA is called off at one hour and the astronauts make a hasty return to the airlock. Once inside, an estimated half liter of water is found inside Parmitano’s space helmet; the remainder of the tasks scheduled for this spacewalk are rescheduled for a later EVA.

Canadian-born International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield, following up on a brief communication via Twitter that caught the attention of Star Trek fans and space exploration afficionados alike, conducts a live video chat from orbit with Star Trek star William Shatner (speaking from Earth). The two discuss the risks of space exploration and the technological leaps forward (including means of communication that were strictly science fiction in Star Trek’s heyday), though Shatner can’t convince Hadfield to confirm rumors that the astronaut has volunteered to head up a mission to Mars.

Having successfully demonstrated an unmanned cargo vehicle to make supply runs to the International Space Station, SpaceX launches the first Dragon capsule to the ISS under its new commercial resupply contract with NASA. The flight is not without difficulties: one of the nine engines of the Falcon 9 booster’s first stage shuts down in flight without impacting the Dragon capsule’s ability to reach the right orbit, but a secondary payload – a commercial satellite to be launched from the Falcon’s upper stage – is stranded in the wrong orbit and falls back into Earth’s atmosphere in days. NASA and SpaceX begin a joint investigation into the mishap, while the Dragon capsule docks with the ISS and remains in orbit for nearly three weeks as Expedition 33 crew members unload new cargo and stow items for return to Earth aboard the capsule, which will be recovered on Earth after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.