ISS - Expedition 62 Mission patch.
March 2, 2020
The Expedition 62 crew is gearing up for next week’s space delivery aboard a U.S. cargo craft continuing the upkeep of International Space Station systems.
SpaceX has completed a successful static fire test of its Falcon 9 rocket at Kennedy Space Center. The Dragon resupply ship will be perched atop the Falcon 9 when it blasts off toward the station on Friday at 11:50 p.m. EST.
Image above: The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain on the European continent from Morocco on the African continent. Image Credit: NASA.
Flight Engineers Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir will be in the cupola Monday to capture Dragon at approximately 7 a.m. Morgan will command the Canadarm2 to reach out and grapple Dragon as Meir monitors its approach and rendezvous. NASA TV will broadcast both the launch and capture activities live.
The NASA duo practiced their robotics activities today and configured the station to receive the more than 5,600 pounds of cargo packed inside Dragon. Morgan started the day setting up a specialized habitat to house mice being delivered next week aboard the U.S. space freighter. Meir was also making space and organizing the Japanese Kibo laboratory module to make room for the new hardware.
Image above: Flying over Uruguay, seen by EarthCam on ISS, speed: 27'549 Km/h, altitude: 430,80 Km, image captured by Roland Berga (on Earth in Switzerland) from International Space Station (ISS) using ISS-HD Now Live application with EarthCam's from ISS on March 2, 2020 at 18:02 UTC. Image Credits: Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
Commander Oleg Skripochka of Roscosmos worked on Earth observation research today ending one experiment and starting another. He finalized a run of the student-operated EarthKAM investigation this morning shutting down gear and stowing hardware. In the afternoon, the veteran cosmonaut set up and activated an experiment that observes the atmosphere at nighttime in near-ultraviolet wavelengths.
Related links:
Expedition 62: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition62/index.html
Canadarm2: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/mobile-servicing-system.html
NASA TV: https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv
Specialized habitat to house mice: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8150
Kibo laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/japan-kibo-laboratory
EarthKAM: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=87
Commercial Resupply: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/index.html
Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
Best regards, Orbiter.ch
