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DUKAS_19833799_POL
Shuttle Endeavour Docked to ISS
May 27, 2011: The final flight of space shuttle Endeavour, STS-134, was photographed by the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-20. It is the first time since 1996 that a shuttle has been photographed while docked.///A portion of the International Space Station and the docked space shuttle Endeavour is featured in this image photographed by one of the astronauts, using a fish-eye lens attached to an electronic still camera, during the STS-134 mission's fourth session of extravehicular activity (EVA).. Credit: Polaris (FOTO:DUKAS/POLARIS)
DUKAS/POLARIS -
DUKAS_126427928_EYE
Space embrace
Space embrace.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, according to one of the three laws of robotics imagined by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. On board humanity’s only outpost in space, this obedience has turned into cooperation. Astronauts and robots are working together.
The latest robot to service the International Space Station is the European Robotic Arm (ERA). This android automaton is much like a human arm. It has an elbow, shoulders and even wrists, and it the first robot able to ‘walk’ around the Russian part of the Space Station.
The arm will be launched into space together with the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, called ‘Nauka’, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, on 15 July 2021 at 19:18 CEST.
ESA astronaut André Kuipers is seen in this picture during his first space mission in 2004, with a scale model of the European Robotic Arm. The real thing has a length of over 11 m, and has the ability to anchor itself to the Station in multiple locations, moving backwards and forwards with a large range of motion.
“I am happy to see the European Robotic Arm fly next month. It was a real pleasure to help prepare this fantastic piece of robotics for its duties on the International Space Station”, says André, who trained under water with a real-size model of the robot at Star City, in Russia, before his spaceflight.
Astronauts will find in ERA a most valuable ally – it will save them precious time to do other work in space. ERA will transfer payloads from inside to outside the International Space Station, but it will also help spacewalkers by transporting them around like a cherry-picker crane.
The crew can control ERA from both inside and outside the Space Station, a feature that no other robotic arm has offered before. The robotic arm can perform many tasks automatically, and (FOTO: DUKAS/EYEVINE)
ESA / eyevine -
DUKAS_124350976_EYE
Dragon fire
Dragon fire.
SpaceXÕs Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon spits fire as it lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, 23 April at 05:49 local time. On board are ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
The crew of four spent around 23 hours orbiting Earth and catching up with the International Space Station after their launch before docking to the Node-2 Harmony module, marking the start of ESAÕs six-month mission Alpha.
Thomas is the first European to be launched to space on a US spacecraft in over a decade. The new Crew Dragon ships four astronauts at a time, allowing more people to live and work on the International Space Station doing more research for scientists on Earth.
Alpha is ThomasÕ second space mission, and everything is set to be bigger and brighter. A Russian laboratory module, scheduled to arrive in the summer with a European robotic arm, will offer more ways of maintaining the International Space Station and supporting spacewalkers as they work outside. Thomas will help set up this arm and prepare it for use during the Alpha mission.
Over 200 international experiments are planned during ThomasÕ time in space. Of the 40 European ones, 12 are new experiments led by the French space agency CNES.
At the end of the Alpha mission in October, Thomas will take over commander of the International Space Station for a brief period and welcome ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer on his first flight to space.
Credit: ESA / eyevine
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(FOTO: DUKAS/EYEVINE)
ESA / eyevine