international space station
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‘An Exciting Challenge’: NASA Plans Rare Repair Spacewalk to Fix Busted Telescope
NASA is preparing to send astronauts on a spacewalk to repair a telescope mounted on the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS). The repair involves installing patches to eliminate unwanted sunlight leaking into the instrument. NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer), an X-ray telescope the size of a washing machine, launched to orbit in…
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Mutated Strains of Unknown Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found Lurking on ISS
It’s not clear how the space bacteria may affect the health of astronauts on the ISS—or humans back down on Earth.
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NASA Ends $US2 Billion Satellite Refuelling Project After Contractor Accused of ‘Poor Performance’
An ambitious NASA project designed to test satellite refueling in space, known as OSAM-1, has been discontinued after significant technical, cost, and scheduling difficulties. The cancellation comes in the wake of an October 2023 report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General that cited “poor performance” by Maxar, the primary contractor for the project. NASA announced…
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Russian Cosmonaut Sets New Time Travel Record After Spending 879 Days in Orbit
As of Sunday, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko has clocked more time in Earth orbit than any other astronaut, surpassing the mark held by his Russian colleague Gennady Padalka. And as a fun quirk introduced by Einstein’s Special and General Theories of Relativity, Kononenko has travelled farther into the future than anyone else—even if by the…