Last month NASA sent an inflatable room — the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or BEAM — into space via SpaceX as a home improvement for the International Space Station’s Tranquility Module. Like many home improvement projects, all did not go according to plan, and yesterday the big balloon didn’t inflate worth a damn. Perhaps a Rubbermaid garden shed will do? Home Depot is open until 10 tonight.
More:
“The ISS’s New Space Module Fails Its First Inflation Attempt,” Emma Grey Ellis, Wired
“ISS controllers defer BEAM module expansion,” Pete Harding, NASASpaceFlight.com
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Image (“BEAM deployed – artist concept”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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If you want decent coffee in space, invite the Italians.
When Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano was on the International Space Station in 2013, he really missed having a decent cup of coffee. Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian flight engineer from the European Space Agency, has been on the ISS for a year and feels the same. Lavazza and Italian tech firm Argotec just delivered an experimental ISSpresso Machine to her so she can finally get espresso in space. NASA threw in a matching set of high-tech coffee cups for zero-gravity sipping.
Of course now an Italian astronaut will want a decent bombolone or cornetto.
Astronaut Peggy Whitson‘s first NASA mission was a six-month stay on the International Space Station in 2002. During that mission, a supply shuttle docked with special cargo from her husband: A pecan pie and a bottle of hot sauce.
More:
“That Time an Astronaut Got a Pie Sent to the International Space Station,” Megan Garber, The Atlantic
“Why Astronauts Crave Tabasco Sauce,” Joe Palca, NPR
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When the space shuttle Discovery (STS-133) visited the International Space Station (ISS), the Japanese robotic space freighter KOUNOTORI2 was already up there, and the station crew moved it to an alternate location. Discovery left for earth, and the crew moved the freighter back to the original port to continue working. When the earthquake struck Japan, the Japanese space program’s ground control station at Tsukuba was evacuated due to power failure and shortages of fuel and water. Photos indicate some interior damage, but there are no reports of injuries. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has passed control of the space station’s Kibo module to NASA ground facilities in Houston and Huntsville. The unmanned Japanese supply ship remains at the ISS and scheduled work with it has been postponed.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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NASA’s Evel Knievel Memorial Space Stunt Program aims at putting humans in space for the scientific purpose of … putting humans in space. Italy now brings some European sophistication to this effort.
NASA’s idea of “sophistication” was spelling the name of a space shuttle “Endeavour” instead of “Endeavor” back in 1987. Monday morning the same creaking craft hurled aloft with improvements for the International Space Shoppes (ISS).
Europe is opening two new Space Shoppes modules, the utilitarian Tranquility and the stylish Cupola. The latter (pictured above) offers diners scenic space vistas, and will complement the Asian fare of Japan’s austere Kibo Noodle Shop.
With Cupola in place, the ISS Food Court of Nations will be virtually complete. Thank goodness the International Space Toilet was repaired. Twice.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
