Dockings in space

Steady... steady... careful now...

On Wednesday morning November 2, Progress 45, a robotic cargo delivery spacecraft, approached the International Space Station and successfully docked to the Russian PIRS module. Supplies included food, fuel, oxygen, water, and electronic supplies. I'm sure what the astronauts of Expedition 29 were REALLY waiting for were the 2 Apple iPads that were stored on board!

THis docking brings a sigh of relief from Russian space program managers, who were no doubt worried to death after the failure of the last Progress mission. That crash resulted in a delay of the Progress missions. Looks like the bugs have been worked out... for now.

Steady... steady... careful now...

Celebrations in China this week as a major milestone has been achieved for the Chinese SPace Program. Earlier this year, China launched the Tiangong-1 science module, basically a mini-space station. Tee T-1 will be used for practice in rendezvous and docking practice, and later next year Chinese Astronauts will actually dock with the spacecraft. In this event, a Shenzhou-8 Space ship robotically docked with the T-1 module. China is continuing to make strides forward in their development. No doubt this is due to all the scientific help we have either given them or they have stolen. I do not make that claim lightly.

Posted by Mark Daymont
Space Center Educator

This Busy Wednesday

Hello Troops,
He had the best Halloween costume. It was the day he got to dress for the job he wanted not the job he had.

I'm about to leave home for a busy day at the Space Center. It's a double field trip day! Four classes will attend, two for the normal time 9:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. and two for the after hours time 2:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. I admire teachers that go the extra mile for their students and bring them to the after hours field trip. It's is a compliment to the work we do.

Our Revolution Programming Class will be held this evening at 6:30 along with a few private missions stretching our day to closing at 9:00 P.M.

So, without further delay, I'll wrap up and venture out for my walk to school on a cold November morning. See you in the trenches...

Mr. W.

P.S. And a few items from the Imaginarium.

A Reference to "The Mickey Mouse Club" one of my favorite TV shows as a kid.

The first man to bring us "Angry Birds" (I'll be pleasantly surprised if any of our younger readers gets this).

"Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?"

Weekend Launches

NPP assembly in the clean room.

On early Friday Morning, NASA launched the NPP, the NPOESS Preparatory Project, into orbit aboard a Delta II rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This satellite will be the first in a new series of Earth-observing probes that will help us monitor what is really happening with the climate.

Progress 45 lifts off to the ISS.

After a delay for investigating the causes of a Progress crash a couple of months ago, Russia has given the green light and launched the next cargo mission to the ISS. Progress 45 blasted off from Kazakhstan on Sunday for a 3 day trip to the station. As usual, the pod contains fuel, oxygen, water, spare parts and supplies for the Expedition 29 crewmembers.

Last Saturday, the crew of Expedition 29 jettisoned the Progress 42 cargo pod, and ground controllers sent it to burn up in the atmosphere, taking a load of station garbage with it. Progress 45 will dock in its place on Wednesday.

Posted by Mark Daymont