A Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off at 2:09 p.m. EST with the Expedition 26 crew onboard headed to the International Space Station. The crew includes Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, American astronaut Catherine Coleman and from the European Space Agency Italian Paolo Nespoli.
Read More »SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft 1st Time On-Orbit
This is a 2:46 video of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on-orbit starting at the T00:53:50 minute mark.
Read More »SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch, Dragon On-Orbit and Splashdown in Pictures
Other than watching the video of the launch there’s nothing like seeing great still images of an event. These images provided by SpaceX and Chris Thompson show the spectacular liftoff, on-orbit images and splashdown images.
Read More »NASA and SpaceX Post Falcon 9 Launch Press Conference Video
After a nearly flawless launch of Falcon 9 and recovery of the Dragon spacecraft, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was almost speechless during the first part of the press conference saying “he was in semi shock” at how well the launch went. Musk said he was extremely thankful to NASA for helping get SpaceX to this point and that SpaceX had built upon decades of NASA …
Read More »SpaceX Falcon 9 Successfully Launches Dragon Spacecraft Into Orbit
Heading into the first demo flight of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program SpaceX and NASA were both quick to remind people that this was a test program doing something SpaceX had never done before. From the look of today’s launch it seems they needed have worried so much. The first flight of Falcon 9 carrying the Dragon spacecraft to orbit appears to have …
Read More »Future Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield gets Social
After yesterday’s announcement that veteran Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield would be flying on a six month long flight and serve as Commander of the International Space Station Hadfield’s sons promptly helped him setup a Twitter account and Facebook page, a first for a Canadian astronaut.
Read More »Meet Canada's Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator or Dextre for Short
Call it an orbiting Edward Scissorhands. Although Dextre’s first major robotic work on the International Space Station this month was delayed due to a snagged truss, both the Canadian Space Agency and NASA anticipate it will replace spacewalkers for minor outside tasks during and after the station’s construction. Launched in 2008 aboard STS-123, the Canadian robotic hand – built by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates in …
Read More »Dextre's final exam – l'examen final de Dextre
See the steps of Dextre’s final exam. Working from his perch on the end of Canadarm2, Dextre will close in on his target, unbolt the first circuit breaker and remove it. He will then back up slightly to give himself more room to rotate at the waist in order to align his free hand with the second circuit breaker, and will grab it and slide …
Read More »Agence spatiale canadienne entrevue avec Mathieu Caron
Entrevue avec Mathieu Caron, Dextre Contrleur de vol. Dextre est le robot le plus perfectionn jamais construit selon l’agence spatiale canadienne. Il est d’effectuer des travaux courants d’entretien et de rparation, comme le changement de batteries et le remplacement de camras l’extrieur de l’ISS.
Read More »Canadian Space Agency Interview Leslie with Sponder Dextre Operations Engineer and Mission Planner
Leslie Sponder is an Operations Engineer and Mission Planner who works with the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or as it is better know as, Dextre. Dextre is the most sophisticated space robot ever built according to the Canadian Space Agency. It is designed to help in maintaining the health of the International Space Station (ISS). Dextre’s role is to perform maintenance work and repairs like …
Read More »