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Boeing Starliner Crew Spacecraft Orbital Flight Test-2 Post-Landing | NASA
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew spacecraft landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities.
NASA's Space to Ground: Boeing Starliner's Success!
Week of May 27, 2022: NASA's Space to Ground is your weekly update on what's happening aboard the International Space Station. The seven Expedition 67 crew members are resuming their normal schedule of science and maintenance activities following the departure of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. The orbital residents focused on vein scans, robotics, and a host of other space research onboard the International Space Station on May 26, 2022.
NASA and Boeing completed its Orbital Flight Test-2 mission on Wednesday. NASA Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren and Bob Hines monitored the crew ship’s arrival last week, conducted cargo and test operations inside the vehicle, then closed the hatch on Tuesday, May 24, 2022, before finally seeing Starliner undock from the Harmony module’s forward port at 2:36 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.
Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft have been developed and tested to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station from U.S. soil.
Expedition 67 Crew
Commander Oleg Artemyev (Russia)
Roscosmos Flight Engineers: Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov (Russia)
NASA Flight Engineers: Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins (USA)
European Space Agency (ESA) Flight Engineer: Samantha Cristoforetti (Italy)
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
Highlights of Boeing Starliner's Orbital Flight Test-2 | NASA
"On May 25, 2022, Starliner landed safely back on Earth after spending five days docked to the International Space Station for OFT-2. This test, which started with a successful May 19 launch, provided the Expedition 67 crew and our NASA and Boeing teams back on Earth with vital data and cargo for future commercial space exploration. Watch this recap of Starliner's journey from start to finish."
Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft have been developed and tested to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station from U.S. soil.
Scientists are working hard to better understand why vision changes occur for some astronauts in microgravity, while continuously developing strategies to counter those changes.
What is the Future of Global Space Cooperation? | World Economic Forum
"Between lunar missions and commercial space stations, low-Earth economy and vital information-gathering about our planet, investments in the space industry could reach $1 trillion in the 2030s."
"How can public and private stakeholders worldwide collaborate to make these ventures a success and ensure space exploration and research benefits us all?"
"The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change."
On Wednesday, May 25, 2022, at 2:35 p.m. ET, a Falcon 9 rocket launched Transporter-5, SpaceX’s fifth dedicated smallsat rideshare program mission, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This was the eighth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 stage booster, which previously supported launch of Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, one Starlink mission, and Transporter-4.
Following stage separation, SpaceX landed Falcon 9’s first stage on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. On board this flight were 59 spacecraft, including CubeSats, microsats, non-deploying hosted payloads, and orbital transfer vehicles, plus Nanoracks’ Outpost Mars Demo 1 experiment to test technologies for cutting into rocket upper stages.
Image Credit: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)
Boeing Starliner Crew Spacecraft Orbital Flight Test-2 Post-Landing | NASA
Boeing and NASA teams work around Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft after it landed at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities.
Boeing Starliner Crew Spacecraft Orbital Flight Test-2 Landing | NASA
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew spacecraft lands at White Sands Missile Range’s Space Harbor, Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in New Mexico. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. OFT-2 serves as an end-to-end test of the system's capabilities.
Expedition 67 Crew Photos | International Space Station
Expedition 67 crew pose for a dinner portrait
In the front row (from left), are NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins and Roscosmos Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov. In the back (from left), are Roscosmos Flight Engineer Denis Matveev; NASA Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren and Bob Hines; European Space Agency (ESA) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti; and Roscosmos Commander Oleg Artemyev.
Image Date: May 14, 2022
NASA astronauts (from left) Kjell Lindgren and Bob Hines are pictured inside the International Space Station's seven-windowed cupola monitoring the approach and rendezvous of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on the company's Orbital Flight Test-2 mission.
Image Date: May 20, 2022
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is seated next to "Rosie the Rocketeer" inside Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft the day after it had docked to the International Space Station's Harmony module on the company's Orbital Flight Test-2 mission.
Image Date: May 21, 2022
Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev smiles for a portrait inside the International Space Station's Unity module.
Image Date: May 14, 2022
NASA astronaut and Expedition 67 Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins enjoys the view of the Earth below from inside the International Space Station's seven-windowed cupola. The orbiting lab was flying 272 miles above the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Cape Town, South Africa, at the time this photograph was taken.
Image Date: May 3, 2022
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut and Expedition 67 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti monitors a pair of Astrobee robotic free-flyers performing autonomous maneuvers inside the International Space Station. The cube-shaped, toaster-sized robots are designed to help scientists and engineers develop and test technologies for use in microgravity to assist astronauts with routine chores, and give ground controllers additional eyes and ears on the space station.
Image Date: May 18, 2022
Roscosmos cosmonauts (from left) Oleg Artemyev, Sergey Korsakov and Denis Matveev, are pictured inside the International Space Station's Poisk module. Korsakov had helped Artemyev and Matveev out of their Orlan spacesuits after they had just completed a seven-hour and 42-minute spacewalk to activate the European robotic arm on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.
Image Date: April 28, 2022
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut and Expedition 67 Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti installs acrylic scratch panes on two windows inside the seven-windowed cupola, the International Space Station's "window to the world." The orbiting lab was flying 271 miles above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of New Zealand at the time of this photograph.
Image Date: May 12, 2022
Expedition 67 Crew
Commander Oleg Artemyev (Russia)
Roscosmos Flight Engineers: Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov (Russia)
NASA Flight Engineers: Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins (USA)
European Space Agency (ESA) Flight Engineer: Samantha Cristoforetti (Italy)
An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.
SpaceX's 25th Cargo Resupply Mission for Science | International Space Station
The 25th SpaceX cargo resupply services mission (SpaceX CRS-25) carrying scientific research and technology demonstrations to the International Space Station is scheduled for launch June 7, 2022, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Experiments aboard the Dragon capsule include studies of the immune system, wound healing, soil communities, and cell-free biomarkers, along with mapping the composition of Earth’s dust and testing an alternative to concrete.
NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams | The Miracle Planet
In this week’s episode of Down to Earth: Conversations, Suni and Adrien discuss protecting our planet’s environment and give their closing thoughts on their conversation.
NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams Spaceflight Experience:
Expedition 14/15 (December 9, 2006 to June 22, 2007)
Expedition 32/33 (July 14 to November 18, 2012)
NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams Official Biography:
NASA's Student Rocket Launch Competition Returns to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, middle school, high school, and college teams from across the United States returned to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASA's Student Launch rocketry competition April 23, 2022. They flew high-powered amateur rockets that they designed, built, and tested.
Elliptical Galaxy NGC 541 Fuels an Irregular Galaxy | Hubble
Image Description: Center, right: Bright, white elliptical galaxy with very bright core from which a diffuse glow extends outward. Another bright, smaller/more distant galaxy is below it, while bright blue/white irregular is to its lower left.
This striking pair is an elliptical galaxy NGC 541 and an unusual star-forming, irregular dwarf galaxy known as Minkowski’s Object (the bluish object to the lower left of NGC 541). Elliptical galaxies are nearly spherical to egg-shaped groups of stars that form when galaxies merge. NGC 541 shoots out radio jets that are invisible to human eyes but detectable by radio telescopes. These jets originate in the accretion disk around the galaxy’s central black hole.
The radio jet from NGC 541 likely caused the star-formation in Minkowski’s Object. Radio galaxies like NGC 541 are surrounded by gaseous halos and/or debris from recent merger events—which may have triggered the radio galaxy activity in the first place. The jet plows into the moderately dense, warm gas around the galaxy and the shock compresses and heats the gas, causing it to become energized, or ionized. As the ionized gas reverts from its higher-energy state to a lower-energy state, energy leaves the cloud in the form of radiation. As the clouds cool, they collapse, giving rise to starbirth. Minkowski’s Object is about 7.5 million years old and consists of about 20 million stars.
Hubble observed Minkowski’s Object and NGC 541 to get a better sense of how star formation occurs in this region, what kind of star formation takes place, and the properties of the jet that triggers it.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and S. Croft (Eureka Scientific Inc.); Image Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America)