Space Stories: Preparing for a Commercial Space Station, Ukraine Protests New ISS Crew, and Metal 3D Printing in Space

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the Starlab commercial space station in orbit. (Starlab Space)

Here are some recent stories of interest related to space stations.

—SpaceNews: “Starlab Commercial Space Station to Launch on Starship“

Starlab Space, the joint venture developing the Starlab commercial space station, has selected SpaceX’s Starship to launch the station on a single flight. Starlab Space, a joint venture of Voyager Space and Airbus Space and Defence, announced Jan. 31 it reached an agreement with SpaceX to launch the Starlab station on Starship. The companies did not disclose terms of the agreement or a projected launch date, although a spokesperson for Starlab Space said the company was confident that Starlab would be launched before the decommissioning of the International Space Station, currently scheduled for 2030.

—Kyiv Post: “Ex-Russian Military Officer Joins NASA for ISS Mission; Ukrainian Outrage Follows“

Alexander Grebenkin, a former Russian military officer and current Roscosmos cosmonaut, is set to travel to the International Space Station as part of the NASA team, as announced on the NASA website, where Ukrainians have commented their outrage. NASA, in collaboration with SpaceX, plans to launch Crew-8 to the International Space Station no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 22.

—Aviation Week Network: “European Space Agency Launches ‘First’ Metal 3D Printer To ISS“

The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched what it says is the “first metal 3D printer” to be hosted on the International Space Station (ISS). While plastic 3D printers have been used aboard the ISS since 2014, a machine that prints stainless steel would be new and could allow astronauts greater self-sufficiency, including the ability to make complex metallic structures in orbit, as well as at future Moon and Mars bases, ESA said Jan. 30.

Cosmonaut Surpasses Earlier Days in Space Record

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko (Andrey Shelepin NASA)

Just yesterday, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko surpassed an earlier record for the amount of time a human has spent in space. He has now been in orbit more than 878 days, this being his fifth rotation on the International Space Station. The earlier record was set in 2015 by cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.

American astronauts have a ways to go before approaching this record. To date, the record for cumulative days in space is held by a NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson at 675 days.

*Peggy Whitson extended her record cumulative time in space by nine days as an Axiom Space astronaut during Axiom Mission-2 from May 21 through May 30, 2023.
Credit: NASA

The ISS is Getting Pretty Crowded

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft, which is carrying four Axiom Mission 3 crew members, docking to the space station shortly after an orbital sunrise. (NASA TV)

The seven real astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are now playing host to four visitors for the next two weeks after the Axiom Mission 3 crew came aboard the station earlier today.

Unlike the last two Axiom missions, all three paying members of the Axiom Mission crew are being supported by various European governments:

  • Marcus Wandt, member of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) astronaut reserve (ticket paid by ESA and the Swedish National Space Agency);
  • Walter Villadei, a member of the Italian air force (ticket paid by the Italian air force); and
  • Alper Gezeravcı, a fighter pilot with the Turkish air force (ticket paid by the Turkish government).

At the price of $55 million per seat, I am hoping the governments and space agencies feel they are getting their money’s worth versus being part of the normal 6-month astronaut rotation.

Supposedly, the extra hands will be working on 30 experiments that the normal crew did not have time for, though I would imagine they would be the less important experiments if they would otherwise not be performed at all.

If all of this is truly important work, then I expect such demand will justify the need for commercial space stations down the line to continue the work of the ISS. However, I expect a good chuck of future space interest will come from the tourist side.

In the meantime, I just hope the toilets on board the ISS can deal with the extra passengers.

Note: So as not to give all the attention to the visitors, the current Expedition 70 crew members aboard station are:

  • NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara;
  • ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen;
  • JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Furukawa Satoshi; and
  • Roscosmos cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chub.

Will China Beat Us to the Moon?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): A manufactured image, but it may be a reality soon enough. (Asia Times)

With the newly announced delays related to the Artemis lunar program, it is fair to ask whether the U.S. might fall behind the Chinese when it comes to a crewed lunar mission (of course, we won that battle 50 years ago, but you know that I mean).

All reports indicate that the Chinese wants to place humans on the Moon by 2030, but they are not expected to beat the Artemis timetable of a lunar landing in 2026. Of course, it is important that NASA stick to this timetable.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson recently stated:

I do not have a concern that China is going to land before us…I think that China has a very aggressive plan. I think they would like to land before us, because that might give them some PR coup. But the fact is that I don’t think they will. I think it is true that their date that they announced keeps getting earlier. But specifically, with us landing in September of ’26, that will be the first landing.

Obstacles remain on what will prove to be a difficult mission even if it is a repeat. We already saw Russia’s failed attempt to simply land on the Moon last year, and the problems with last week’s NASA-funded commercial launch towards the Moon was worrying.

Nothing can be taken for granted in this new space race.

Bad News for Latest US Moon Mission

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Image (Credit): Planned flight of the Peregrine lunar lander. (Astrobotic)

We started with high hopes, yet a problem has already threatened the success of Astrobotic’s mission to the Moon. Shortly after a successful lift off earlier this morning, the Peregrine lunar lander started reporting issues with its propulsion system, which impacted its ability to charge its batteries. Fortunately, the charging issue was resolved, yet the propulsion issue is still outstanding.

Astrobotic is already talking about a modified mission. Noting the loss of propellant, the company stated:

The team is working to try and stabilize this loss, but given the situation, we have prioritized maximizing the science and data we can capture. We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time.

That sounds pretty ominous at this point when the final goal is the Moon. The US mission is starting to look like two other lunar missions that failed last year – one Japanese and one Russian – yet those happened on the Moon’s surface. If the Peregrine can stay in the Moon’s orbit then maybe it can get a few things accomplished.

If there is any good news, it is that the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket appeared to operate as expected. That means the folks at ULA and Blue Origin can sleep a little better tonight.

I do not expect the Astrobotic people will have a good night’s sleep for some time.