NASA News For Week Ending April 29, 2022

NASA News For Week Ending April 29, 2022

• A new crew launches to the space station …
• Another crew wraps up an historic mission to the station ….
• And more time to explore for some planetary science missions.

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The Crew-4 Mission Launches to the Space Station

On April 27, the astronauts of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission launched to the International Space Station from our Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Later the same day, NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins, along with Samantha Cristoforetti of the European Space Agency, arrived at the station onboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that they named “Freedom.” This is the fourth space station crew rotation mission to fly on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

Axiom Mission 1 Departs from the Space Station

The crew of Axiom Mission 1, the first all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, wrapped up its time on the orbital outpost on April 24. The four-person crew, led by Commander and former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, safely returned to Earth on April 25 with more than 200 pounds of science and supplies, including some NASA experiments and hardware.

NASA Extends Exploration for Eight Planetary Science Missions

The planetary science missions of eight NASA spacecraft have been extended for at least three years. These include Mars Odyssey, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity rover, the InSight Mars lander, OSIRIS-REx, New Horizons, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The missions were extended because of their scientific productivity and potential to deepen our knowledge and understanding of the solar system and beyond.

Celebrating Three Years of Astrobees on the Space Station

Our Ames Research Center is celebrating three years of the free-flying robotic Astrobees busily “buzzing about” the International Space Station. The three robots have put in over 750 hours of work and completed more than 100 activities, from tech demonstrations to assisting in experiments. Robots like these are essential components of our Artemis program to return humans to the Moon and to eventually send people to Mars. Unlike the space station, future deep space outposts may not be crewed year-round, and may need robotic, autonomous systems to remain operational.

Cosmonauts Outfit Robotic Arm During Spacewalk

Outside the International Space Station, Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev of Roscosmos conducted a spacewalk on April 28 to continue outfitting the European robotic arm that is attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Future spacewalks are planned to continue work on the robotic arm and to activate Nauka’s airlock for use on future spacewalks.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA … For more on these and other stories, follow us on the web at nasa.gov/twan.