Flight VS13 was the 13th Soyuz liftoff performed from French Guiana since this vehicle’s 2011 introduction at the Spaceport. (Credit: Arianespace)
Russia continued its dominance of the global satellite launch industry in 2015, conducting 29 of 86 orbital launches over the past 12 months. It also maintained its lead in botched launches, suffering two failures and one partial failure.
NanoRacks External Platform (Credit: Airbus Defence and Space)
On board is the NanoRacks External Payload Platform (NREP) that will be externally mounted to the Station on the JEM facility, and expected to be permanently open for business in spring 2016.
NASA PR — The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) “Kounotori” H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-5) arrived at the International Space Station Aug. 24 to deliver almost five tons of supplies and scientific experiments to the Expedition 44 crew. The cargo vehicle was launched atop a Japanese H-IIB rocket Aug. 19 from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.
Suntory Whisky display. (Credit: Brian Adler)
TOKYO (Suntory PR)–Suntory Global Innovation Center has embarked upon space experiments on the “development of mellowness in alcoholic beverage through the use of a microgravity environment.” This research will be conducted in the International Space Station’s Japanese Experiment Module (nicknamed “Kibo”), with the cooperation of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
H-II Transfer Vehicle No. 5, commonly known as “Kounotori5” or HTV5, was launched on Wednesday from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center carrying alcohol beverages produced by Suntory to the Japanese Experiment Module aboard the International Space Station, where experiments on the “development of mellowness” will be conducted for a period of about one year in Group 1 and for two or more years (undecided) in Group 2.
WEBSTER, Texas (NanoRacks PR) — The NanoRacks External Payload Platform (NREP), manufactured by Airbus DS, and 16 customer CubeSats, were successfully launched to the International Space Station on Wednesday, August 19 via the fifth H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) Commercial Resupply Mission.
TANEGASHIMA SPACE CENTER, Japan (JAXA PR) — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launched the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No.5 (H-IIB F5) with the KOUNOTORI5 (HTV5, a cargo transfer vehicle to the International Space Station) onboard at 8:50:49 p.m. on August 19 (Wed.) 2015 (Japan Standard Time, JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center. The launch vehicle flew smoothly, and, at about 14 minutes and 54 seconds after […]
Progress 60P on approach to ISS. (Ctedit: NASA TV)
Space Access Update #144 7/6/15
copyright 2015 by Space Access Society
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Contents This Issue:
Station Supply Update
Latest From SpaceX
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Station Supply Update
A Russian Progress cargo ship successfully docked with Station in the early hours of Sunday morning. This adds a month to International Space Station’s supply reserves, sufficient now for roughly through November.
Space Access Update #143 7/2/15
copyright 2015 by Space Access Society
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Sunday’s Commercial Cargo Mission Loss
Background
Sunday’s (6/28/15) SpaceX cargo resupply launch to Station failed, breaking up a little over two minutes into the flight. (More here and here.) This was SpaceX’s eighth such flight; their initial test mission then six commercial-contract cargo flights had essentially gone as planned. This was SpaceX’s nineteenth launch of the Falcon 9 booster; the first eighteen F9 launches all reached orbit successfully.
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Credit: NASA
There was a lot of discussion on Sunday about the impact of the loss of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft on the International Space Station. NASA officials said the ISS crew was in no danger from a supply standpoint, and they said they would stick to the existing schedule for crew rotation but might change the cargo manifest.
That doesn’t look good at all. #SpaceX #CRS7 pic.twitter.com/M2Tc3IhPS9
— DanSpace77 (@DanSpace77) June 28, 2015
Some notes from the NASA press conference covering the loss of Falcon 9 and the Dragon resupply ship on Sunday morning.
Cause of the Accident & Investigation
The cause is as yet undetermined. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who was not at the press conference, Tweeted that there was an overpressure event in the second stage liquid oxygen (LOX) tank prior to the launch vehicle breaking up. “Data suggests counterintuitive cause,” he wrote. Video of the accident appears to show the breakup of the vehicle beginning there.