SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus CRS-2 NG-21 (S.S. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee) to orbit this morning from Cape Canaveral. Liftoff was at 11:02 AM EDT under variable skies that showed a strong chance of storms coming in shortly afterwards.
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus CRS-2 NG-21 (S.S. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee) to orbit this morning from Cape Canaveral. Liftoff was at 11:02 AM EDT under variable skies that showed a strong chance of storms coming in shortly afterwards.
Roughly seven and a half minutes after liftoff, Booster B1080 made a meteoric descent before firing up three of its Merlin engines and settling down for a soft landing back at the Cape at Landing Zone 1. At that moment, a pair of sonic booms heralded the Space Coast of booster’s return from its tenth flight.
At 11:18 AM EDT, SpaceX announced a successful separation of Cygnus from Falcon 9, ending their mission portion having had yet another good day.
Cygnus will not travel to ISS, and is under Northrup Grumman and NASA’s control. It is expected to arrive around 03:10 AM EDT. NASA TV will begin coverage 01:30 AM EDT on its broadcast and streaming channels.
SpaceX will launch the Starlink 8-3 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral NET Wednesday at 08:59 AM EDT
Keep in mind that launch dates and times change often. Launch attempts can be scrubbed anytime due to weather, technical reasons, or range conditions.
A National Institute of Health paper released in March has identified previously unseen and unknown variants of a bacterium known for being multi-drug resistant that have been isolated from the ISS.
Thirteen strains of Enterobacter bugandensis, have mutated and became genetically distinct compared to their Earth counterparts. The study also found that E. bugandensis coexisted with multiple other microorganisms, and in some cases could have helped those organisms survive. So far, NASA, Roscosmos, or any other international partners aboard the ISS have not reported infected astronauts or, worse, transmission of the species from the ISS to Earth.
A NASA news release this week perhaps states the findings more clearly:
“In a new scientific paper funded by an Ames Space Biology grant, Principal Investigator Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory strains of the bacterial species Enterobacter bugandensis isolated from the International Space Station (ISS) were studied. Thirteen strains of E. bugandensis, a bacterium notorious for being multi-drug resistant, were isolated from the ISS. Study findings indicate under stress, the ISS isolated strains were mutated and became genetically and functionally distinct compared to their Earth counterparts. The strains were able to viably persist in the ISS over time with a significant abundance. E. bugandensis coexisted with multiple other microorganisms, and in some cases could have helped those organisms survive.
“Closed human-built environments, such as the ISS, are unique areas that provide an extreme environment subject to microgravity, radiation, and elevated carbon dioxide levels. Any microorganisms introduced to these areas must adapt to thrive. By delving into microbial dynamics in extreme environments, this research opens doors to effective preventative measure for astronaut health.”
Multi-Drug Resistant Bacteria Found on ISS Mutating to Become Functionally Distinct (NASA)
In short, this common species from Earth has traveled to ISS, adapted to the unique environment of the orbiting outpost, and has evolved into something entirely new that is resistant to standard antibiotic treatments.
The recently released study backs up other studies that go back as far as 2015. According to a peer-reviewed release in 2018, “Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA investigated five strains of Enterobacter that were isolated from the space toilet and the exercise platform on the ISS in March 2015 as part of a wider effort to characterize the bacterial communities that live on surfaces inside the space station. To identify the species of Enterobacter collected on the ISS and to show in detail the genetic make-up of the individual strains, the researchers compared the ISS strains to all publicly available genomes of 1,291 Enterobacter strains collected on Earth.”
In 2018, Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran, a Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group stated that, “Whether or not an opportunistic pathogen like E. bugandensis causes disease and how much of a threat it is, depends on a variety of factors, including environmental ones. Further in vivo studies are needed to discern the impact that conditions on the ISS, such as microgravity, other space, and spacecraft-related factors, may have on pathogenicity and virulence.”
According to the NIH’s National Center for Biotechnology Information, “Enterobacter species are responsible for causing many nosocomial infections, and less commonly community-acquired infections, including urinary tract infections (UTI), respiratory infections, soft tissue infections, osteomyelitis, and endocarditis, among many others.”
Again, no illnesses specific to E. bugandensis have been reported, and scientists have been monitoring this situation for some time.
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Note: article originally published by the author at Florida Media Now
NASA, Boeing and United Launch Alliance Forego Launch Opportunity on June 2nd As Well
The debut of Boeing’s Starliner with crew aboard will have to endure at least one more delay as teams work to assess the latest issue that prevented a launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station early this afternoon.
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will presumable remain at Kennedy Space Center and still in quarantine awaiting the next launch attempt, which could come NET June 5th at 10:52 AM EDT.
At T-minus three minutes and fifty-six seconds, a hold was called, the launch countdown halted, and the launch attempt was scrubbed for the day.
The reason?
“NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) scrubbed today’s launch opportunity due to the computer ground launch sequencer not loading into the correct operational configuration after proceeding into terminal count.”
NASA
In short, a computer systems failure.
Specifically, the failure was in the system that, “Controls things like retracting umbilical [connections from the pad to Atlas V] and the Pyro pin that release the bolts at the base of the rocket, so that when ignition happens the rocket is free to fly away and do its job,” said United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno in a press briefing held after the scrub.
Additionally, Bruno added, “For that system we do require all three systems to be running triple redundancy and to assure that [inside] each of those three big racks those three big computers do a health check and they monitor to see that those cards came up. When they were commanded to come up and be begin doing their job two came up normally the third one came up but it was slow to come up, and that tripped a red line that created an automatic hold.”
With that, the scrub, because the mission profile is one based on an instantaneous launch, means Atlas V must depart at a specific moment to catch up to the International Space Station in the most efficient manner. This is normal for ISS-bound crewed flights, dating back to the days of the Space Shuttle.
Later in the evening, NASA issued this update:
“NASA, Boeing, and ULA (United Launch Alliance) are forgoing a Crew Flight Test launch attempt Sunday, June 2, to give the team additional time to assess a ground support equipment issue at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex-41 in Florida.”
NASA
So, there is no fast turnaround, no launch tomorrow, and Starliner is still on the ground awaiting its first crewed mission.
It would be fashionable to blame Boeing and Starliner for this latest delay, but in reality, it’s their partner, United Launch Alliance, that has not delivered in both launch attempts. On May 8th, a valve issue on Atlas V scrubbed the mission, and today, another ULA hardware problem has kept Starliner on the ground. In both cases, Starliner was ready for flight, but unfortunately, its ride to space was not. Whether ULA is third-time lucky remains to be seen.
There are two more potential launch dates, June 5 and June 6 available for Starliner before Atlas V will need to have maintenance on its battery systems, a process said to take at least ten days. Not too long after that ISS scheduling comes back into play, with Crew 9 scheduled to to head to ISS aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Crew Dragon in August.
The Space Coast could see up to three launches this week: two Starlink launches from SpaceX, and if mission managers accept the current state of Boeing’s Starliner, at long last, the first crewed launch of the vehicle. Here’s a look at the schedule as it currently stands on Monday, May 20, 2024:
There has been a steady stream of Starlink Group 6 launches over the past several months, and this is another one of them. While the mission may be similar to many other recent launches, every rocket launch is slightly different and worth viewing, so despite the apparent lather-rinse-repeat nature of a Starlink launch by SpaceX, it will be worth viewing.
This launch may be interesting, especially if it launches at the beginning of the window or if it is pushed back into the twilight hours of early evening.
If it launches close to the beginning of the planned launch window in the golden light of late afternoon, it will be a gorgeous sight to see, with the rocket illuminated by the yellowish light of the last part of daytime. Playalinda Beach should be open to viewers during that time. Remember that Playalinda has a hard closing time of 8 PM, so if the launch is delayed past then, you will have to leave and find another spot to watch.
If the T-0 for launch is pushed to around 8:30 PM EDT and if skies are clear enough to see the rocket at MECO/Staging, we could see a repeat of the jellyfish phenomenon that wowed launch spectators late last week.
No launch provider plans liftoff based on spectators, however, so if either of those things happens, it will be because SpaceX mission managers have decided that Falcon 9 is ready for flight. That’s as it should be, as spaceflight is not an entertainment business.
This is the most tenuous launch planned for the week. This mission has been delayed several times after the first launch attempt was scrubbed on May 6, 2024 due to a faulty valve on the second stage of Atlas V. The rocket was taken off its launch pad and moved back to ULA’s Vertical Integration Facility at SLC-41 where repairs were effected.
A Helium leak was discovered in the Starliner service module during that repair period, and at the time of this writing, mission managers are evaluating the leak (it is within tolerances) to decide if it is acceptable for flight. Sometime during the week, the results of the analysis will be announced by NASA and Boeing, and the launch schedule for Starliner will become clearer.
If the launch proceeds as scheduled, northern viewpoints in Titusville will be best for spectators if they are not on-site at Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center. Playalinda will be closed to spectators as this is a northeastward launch with crew.
Several factors affect launch dates and times: weather, technical readiness and range availability.
There is an old saying in the spaceflight industry: “Hundreds of thousands of things have to go right for their to be a launch, but only one has to go wrong for there to be a scrub.” That and “It’s better to be on the ground fixing a problem rather than wishing you were on the ground fixing a problem.”
In other words, no one launches unless they are certain they are ready. That means scrubs and schedule shifts are very possible, and anyone planning to watch a launch, either in person or online, should be prepared for launch times and shifts. It’s the nature of the business.
You can keep up with the general launch schedule here at Talk of Titusville, as we pass along schedule changes as soon as we know them. On launch day, the launch company’s website is the official source of information and there are several YouTube and X.com streams available that will give you the latest information.
Keep up with launch news and other space events that affect the local area by subscribing to alerts when we publish a new article by entering your email at the link at the bottom of this page, or by visiting Space Talk here on the website. It’s free and you can unsubscribe at any time.
On a warm morning on one of the first days of summer here on the Space Coast, United Launch Alliance rolled Atlas V and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner “Calypso” from ULA’s Vertical Integration Facility to the launch mount at Pad SLC-41.
The Russian Federation’s Roscosmos launched a Soyuz capsule on the MS-25 mission to the International Space Station Saturday morning. Three crew members including NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson successfully launched at 8:36 a.m. EDT Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station.
The launch came after a two-day delay caused by an umbilical mast remaining connected to the rocket. Roscosmos engineers repaired the faulty equipment, and today’s launch went as expected.
At the time of launch, the ISS was over the South Pacific. Because of Thursday’s launch scrub, Soyuz will take about two days to reach the ISS instead of the planned two-orbit track that would have placed the crew at their destination the same day. They will now dock at the space station’s Prichal module at about 11:09 AM EDT. on Monday, March 25.
Dyson will begin a six-month stint aboard ISS as part of Expedition 70/71, while Novitskiy and Vasilevskaya will be aboard the station for 12 days before returning to Earth in the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft already docked at the orbiting outpost.
Dyson is scheduled to return to Earth in September along with Russian astronauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub. Both will be completing a year-long mission onboard the ISS.
This will be the third spaceflight for Dyson, the fourth for Novitskiy, and the first for Vasilevskaya.
note: Article was originally published by the author at Florida Media Now.
SpaceX launched a Cargo Dragon spacecraft packed with nearly 6,300 pounds of supplies and experiments for the International Space Station on March 14, 2023 at 8:30PM. The launch was from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Temperatures were cool with a brisk breeze on the Space Coast at liftoff. This often causes distortion in photographs where the subject is at a distance — for example, one of a rocket that is six miles away from the camera. The effect is called “heat shimmer” and occurs because at that distance the differences in the overall density of the air, which in turn affects the indices of refraction for light passing through it.
No matter, it was a flawless launch and one that was really fun to watch.
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