May 27 – June 2, 2024 / Vol 43, No 22 / Hawai`i Island, USA

ISS Expedition 71 Plans to Welcome Progress 88P with 2,500 kg of Supplies, Experiments

The seven-member crew of International Space Station Expedition 71 continue their mission of science and exploration this week while (still) awaiting the launch of Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore in Boeing Starliner CST-100, which could fly this week. ISS first component Zarya will reach 26 years in space in 2024, and as a whole the station has six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym and the 360-degree view cupola comprised of seven windows for Earth observation. The current crew includes first time space fliers Nikolai Chub, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps and Alexander Grebenkin. Docked to ISS are crew vehicles MS-25 & SpaceX Crew-8 Dragon, and cargo craft Progress 86P, 87P and NG Cygnus-20. Roscosmos is scheduled to launch Progress 88P via Soyuz 2.1A rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 30 to dock with ISS on June 1 carrying ~2,500 kg of supplies. Among the cargo will be 754 kg of propellant for refueling, 420 kg of potable water, 40 kg of nitrogen to replenish the ISS atmosphere, a hyperspectral instrument for Earth observation to be installed on the Zvezda service module, and materials to support the Biopolymer, Pilot-1, virtual reality, and neuroimmunity experiments. (Image Credits: ISS Partners)

MONDAY 

☆ May 27 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 71 seven-member crew preparing EMUs for upcoming series of EVAs currently scheduled for June; may become crew of 9 if Starliner launches this week.

☆ May 27 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 18 three-member crew working with vertebrate-raising experiment in space (zebrafish); to date >130 projects have been conducted on TSS from 500 Chinese and international institutions.

★ May 27 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink 6-60, SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to launch next batch of Starlink v2-mini satellites.

o May 27-31 — CNES, ESA, Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Small Satellites Systems and Services (4S) Symposium.

☆ May 27 — Jupiter: 4.8° SE of the Pleiades, 01:00.

☆ May 27 — Apollo Asteroid 2024 JO16: Near-Earth Flyby (0.020 AU)

TUESDAY

★ May 28 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / EarthCARE, SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Launch of ESA-JAXA-NICT satellite for Earth observation and characterization of clouds and aerosols, reflected solar radiation and infrared radiation.

● May 28 – Aug 7 — LPI-JSC Center for Lunar Science and Exploration, Houston TX: Exploration Science Summer Intern Program.

☆ May 28 — Aten Asteroid 2008 LD: Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU)

☆ May 28 — Amor Asteroid 2024 JV17: Near-Earth Flyby (0.044 AU)

☾ = Moon activity

★ = Space and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).