Videos: “Space to Ground” & other space habitat reports – March.4.2022

Here is the latest episode in NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:

** Expedition 66 Space Station Crew Answers Ohio Student Questions – March 2, 2022 – NASA Video

Aboard the International Space Station, NASA Expedition 66 Flight Engineers Raja Chari and Tom Marshburn of NASA answered pre-recorded questions about life and work on the orbital laboratory during an in-flight event March 2 with the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Chari and Marshburn are in the midst of a planned six-month mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.

** NLRA 2022-6: In-space Production Applications: Advanced Materials and Manufacturing – ISS National Lab – YouTube

On February 28, 2022, the ISS National Lab held a webinar to provide further background on NLRA 2022-6 and to answer any questions.

** Episode 58 – Geopolitics, Cooperation and the ISS – Space Thoughts

** Keeping it fluid(ics) | Cosmic Kiss 360° – European Space Agency, ESA on Youtube

Europe’s Columbus laboratory is a hive of activity in this 360° timelapse as ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer works on an experiment called Fluidics and his @NASA colleague Raja Chari carries out activity in the Veggie plant habitat. Developed by French space agency @CNES and co-funded by @Airbus, the Fluidics experiment investigates how liquids behave in space. It was first run by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet in 2017 during his Proxima mission. Made up of six small, transparent spheres housed in the black centrifuge seen here, the experiment studies two phenomena. The first is ‘sloshing’ or how liquids move in enclosed spaces. The second is wave turbulence. Understanding the underlying physics of how liquids move in space will help improve the fuel economy of spacecraft and our knowledge of Earth’s oceans. By observing how surface forces behave in reduced gravity and singling out interactions, scientists aim to improve climate models for forecasting sea states and better understand wave formation on Earth. Fluidics is just one of many European and international science experiments Matthias is supporting throughout his six-month Cosmic Kiss mission.

Follow Matthias: https://bit.ly/ESACosmicKiss

** Media Briefing: NASA, Axiom, & SpaceX Officials Discuss 1st Private Astronaut Space Station Mission – Axiom Space

Axiom Space will host a virtual press conference at 11 a.m. EST Monday, Feb. 28, to preview the launch of Ax-1, the first all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch is targeted for Wednesday, March 30 at 2:46 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

During the 10-day mission, which includes eight days aboard the space station, the four-person multi-national crew will complete more than 25 research experiments developed for microgravity in collaboration with leading health and science organizations across the globe. Axiom Space, a leader in human spaceflight and space infrastructure, is committed to the commercialization of low Earth orbit.

Briefing participants are:
• Michael Suffredini, President and CEO, Axiom
• Michael López-Alegría, Ax-1 Crew Commander, Axiom
• Christian Maender, Director, In-Space Research and Manufacturing, Axiom
• Kathy Lueders, Associate Administrator, Space Operations, NASA
• Robyn Gatens, Director, International Space Station, NASA
• Phil McAllister, Director, Commercial Spaceflight Division, NASA
• Benjamin Reed, Sr. Director, Human Spaceflight Programs, SpaceX

Ax-1’s crew includes Michael López-Alegría, Axiom vice president and former NASA astronaut, as commander; American entrepreneur and non-profit activist investor Larry Connor as pilot; investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy of Canada as mission specialist; and impact investor and philanthropist Eytan Stibbe of Israel as mission specialist. Axiom Space has contracted SpaceX to launch the Ax-1 crew to the International Space Station aboard a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. Ax-1 is the first of several planned Axiom missions to the space station, each a critical step toward Axiom Station, the first private space station. This new method of access to low-Earth orbit is progress toward a next generation platform, which will serve as a center for scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs to pursue revolutionary breakthroughs in the unique environment of microgravity.

For more information about Axiom Space and the Ax-1 mission, please visit: https://www.axiomspace.com

** ISS Live video stream – IBM/ISS HD Earth Viewing Experiment

Currently, live views from the ISS are streaming from an external camera mounted on the ISS module called Node 2. Node 2 is located on the forward part of the ISS. The camera is looking forward at an angle so that the International Docking Adapter 2 (IDA2) is visible. If the Node 2 camera is not available due to operational considerations for a longer period of time, a continuous loop of recorded HDEV imagery will be displayed. The loop will have “Previously Recorded” on the image to distinguish it from the live stream from the Node 2 camera. After HDEV stopped sending any data on July 18, 2019, it was declared, on August 22, 2019, to have reached its end of life. Thank You to all who shared in experiencing and using the HDEV views of Earth from the ISS to make HDEV so much more than a Technology Demonstration Payload!

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