Categories: Space ExplorationSpace Flight

Human Spaceflight Briefs

Quite a few things going on in the human spaceflight world, so will just post a few briefs:

Of course top on the agenda is that space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to lift-off on its last flight ever, for the STS-133 mission. Launch is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 1 at 4:40 p.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A. The faulty fuel line that threatened to delay the mission has been fixed, so everything is go for the oldest of the shuttle fleet’s final mission, a trip to the International Space Station to bring up Robonaut 2 and a new module. We’ll keep you posted for the latest on launch day.

Learn more about the mission from our previous preview articles here and here, or at NASA’s website.

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NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden took a trip to China (link to NASA’s website) in hopes of encouraging future cooperation between our two nations, but not sure if it did much good. Besides upsetting people who think he should be concentrating on the issues at home at NASA (from NASAWatch), a news report just came out that China says they are considering their own manned space station by 2020. (PhysOrg)

A Progress resupply ship launched to the ISS just yesterday, Oct. 27, and will meet up with the ISS in 3 days. It is carrying 2 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the Expedition 25 crew, and should dock at the Pirs Docking Compartment on Oct. 30. Watch the video of the launch below.

And here’s a “trailer” about Robonaut 2:

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/