ISS Crew Transitions to Expedition 56/57 with Arrival of 61st Woman in Space
The International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 55/56 members Scott Tingle, Anton Shkaplerov, and Norishige Kanai are set to return to Earth June 3 in a parachute-assisted landing aboard Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft which will undock from the Rassvet module. Roscosmos is scheduled to launch Soyuz MS-09 rocket June 6 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on a 2-day journey carrying 3 members of Expedition 56/57 to ISS. Alexander Gerst of ESA, Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, and Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA are expected to join Drew Feustel, Ricky Arnold, and Oleg Artemyev to complete the 6-person crew, and are scheduled to return to Earth in December. Exp. 56 will conduct experiments and gather data on alloy sintering, plant growth, atomization simulations, gaseous trials for combustion and diffusion, and various effects of microgravity on humans. Maintenance aboard ISS includes upcoming EVAs scheduled for June 14 and August 8, and preparation for cargo ship arrivals in June, July and August. There have been 556 people in space, including 60 women. Flight surgeon Serena Auñón-Chancellor is scheduled to become the 61st woman in space, followed by Anne McClain scheduled for December 20 and Christina Hammock planned for April 2019. Ongoing “First Woman on the Moon Will Be From Where?” poll from Space Age Publishing Company and international groups continue to advocate and support women and diversity in space. (Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Roscosmos) |
MONDAY Ongoing…
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Jun 4 — 
Jun 4 — NewSpace: 
Jun 4 — USA: 
= All times
for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for space events, and…
= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).
Weekly Planet Watch – Evening Planets: Venus (WNW), Jupiter (SE); Morning Planets: Mars (S), Saturn (S), Neptune (ESE).
Solar System Ambassadors, CanSat and Base 11 Competitions Advancing 21st Century Education
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Jun 4 — New Horizons, KBO Ultima Thule (2014 MU69) Trajectory: Spacecraft to awaken from hibernation today to prepare for KBO flyby 1 Jan 2019; approach phase officially begins in August.
Continued from…
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TUESDAY
Jun 5 — W. M. Keck Observatory, Rob and Terry Ryan Foundation, Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Kamuela HI: Astronomy Talk: Using Shadows to Shed New Light; by NASA Chief Scientist James Green, 19:00.
Jun 5 — Elting Memorial Library, New Paltz NY: Discussion on NASA Space Exploration Missions for 2018, and LRO / LCROSS talk; with Willie Yee and Kenneth Bailey from NASA Solar System Ambassador Program.
Jun 5 — New Worlds Institute, Austin TX: New Worlds Space Meetup; featuring Wells Person, COO and Co-Founder of York Space Systems; at Capital Factory – Lobby Meeting Room, 19:00.
Jun 5-7 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Houston TX: Cryovolcanism in the Solar System Workshop (#cryovolcanism2018).
Jun 5-16 — Vesta Asteroid: Protoplanet and second largest body in Main Asteroid Belt will be visible by naked eye before Moonrise, peak viewing will be Jun 8-22, 7.5° NW of Saturn.
Jun 5 — Venus: 8.1° S of Castor, 11:00.
Jun 5 — Mercury: At superior conjunction with Sun, 1.322 AU from Earth, 16:00.
Jun 5 — Apollo Asteroid 2004 LB: Near-Earth Flyby (0.092 AU)
WEDNESDAY
Jun 6 — Roscosmos State Corporation, Launch Soyuz MS-09 / ISS 55S, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Russia Soyuz rocket set to launch members of Expedition 56/57 to ISS: Alexander Gerst of ESA, Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos, and Serena Auñón-Chancellor (to become 61st Woman in Space) of NASA.
Jun 6 — American Women’s Club of Seville, Seville, Spain: Why Mars? Overview of Mars Exploration and the InSight Mission; featuring Amaya Davis of NASA Solar System Ambassadors Program.
Jun 6 — Base 11, Webcast / Costa Mesa CA: Base 11 Space Challenge; webcast event 11:00-12:00 PDT to launch US$1M+ Space Challenge for a student-led university team to design, build and launch a liquid-propelled, single-stage rocket to 100 km by December 30, 2021 from Spaceport America, New Mexico.
Jun 6-8 — SCOR Corporate Foundation for Science, Paris, France: Meteorites – Understanding the Origin of Planetodiversity.
Jun 6 — Moon: At last quarter, 08:33; 2.3° SSE of Neptune, 09:00.
Jun 6 — Mercury: At perihelion (0.3075 AU from Sun), 00:00; magnitude -2.3.
THURSDAY
Jun 7 — American Bar Association, Washington DC: Space Law Symposium; panels focusing on growing space activities from civilian, defense, and commercial vantage points.
Jun 7 — Venus: 4.7° S of Pollux, 23:00.
Jun 7 — Aten Asteroid 2017 EH1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.097 AU)
FRIDAY
Jun 8 — Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, NYC NC: Intrepid Museum Series: Family Astronomy Night; led by Katherine Troche of NASA Solar System Ambassador Program.
Jun 8-10 — American Astronautical Society, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Lockheed Martin, Tarleton State University, et al, Stephenville TX: 2018 Student CanSat Competition.
Jun 8 — Mars: with Saturn at heliocentric conjunction, 18:00.
SATURDAY
Jun 9 — Fort Macon State Park, Atlantic Beach NC:Exploring the Heavens – From Hubble to the Webb – Discovering Space through the eyes of a Telescope; led by Lisa Pelletier-Harman of NASA Solar System Ambassador Program.
Jun 9-10 — Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA/Caltech, Pasadena CA: Jet Propulsion Laboratory Open House: A Ticket to Explore JPL.
Jun 9 — Moon: 4.6° SSE of Uranus, 20:00.
Jun 9 — Amor Asteroid 2009 SK104: Near-Earth Flyby (0.081 AU)
SUNDAY
Jun 10 — Grand Canyon North Rim Visitor Center, North Rim AZ: Space Exploration: Past and Future; featuring Mark Johnston of NASA Solar System Ambassadors Program.