HOUSTON STATION ON SPACE TO GROUND
WELCOME TO SPACE TO GROUND, I’M DAN HUOT. 2021 IS IN THE BOOKS AND THE YEAR IN SPACE
WAS SIMILAR TO THE YEAR ON THE GROUND, FILLED EXCITEMENT, DRAMA, AND TRIUMPH.
MOVING INTO ITS 23RD YEAR IN OPERATION,
THE STATION LOOKS QUITE A BIT DIFFERENT THAN IT DID JUST A YEAR AGO.
SPACEWALKS ON THE U.S. SIDE FINISHED LAYING THE GOUND WORK
AND ULTIMATELY INSTALLING TWO NEW ROLLOUT SOLAR ARRAYS, LAID OVER TOP OF EXISTING ARRAYS,
THESE WILL AUGMENT STATION'S POWER GENERATION CAPABILITY FOR YEARS TO COME, WITH A TOTAL OF SIX
NEW ARRAYS EVENTUALLY PROVIDING THE JUICE NEEDED FOR FUTURE EXPANSIONS AND RESEARCH ON THE ORBITING
LAB. THE ARRAYS ALSO DEMONSTRATE A TECHNOLOGY THAT IS PLANNED FOR USE ON THE LUNAR GATEWAY,
A CRITICAL LINK IN THE CHAIN OF ARTEMIS' PATH TO FUTURE EXPLORATION ON THE MOON.
ON THE RUSSIAN SIDE, WE FINALLY WELCOMED THE RUSSIAN NAUKA MODULE,
GREATLY EXPANDING THE RESEARCH CAPABILITIES ON THE RUSSIAN SEGMENT. IT ENDED UP PROVIDING SOME
UNEXPECTED DRAMA WHEN THRUSTERS CAUSED THE STATION TO LOSE ATTITUDE CONTROL, UNTIL QUICK THINKING BY
FLIGHT CONTROLLERS AND THE ASTRONAUTS RETURNED THINGS TO NORMAL. AND TO CLOSE OUT THE YEAR,
THE NEW PRICHAL MODULE WAS ATTACHED AT THE BOTTOM OF NAUKA, PROVIDING ADDITIONAL DOCKING PORTS.
AND THAT JUST SCRATCHES THE SURFACE ON THE NONSTOP PACE THAT 2021 ENDED UP TAKING ABOARD THE STATION.
THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, WE SAW 5 CREWED LAUNCHES FLY TO THE STATION,
SPLIT BETWEEN TWO ON SPACEX’S DRAGON AND THREE ON THE RUSSIAN SOYUZ. 10 NASA ASTRONAUTS,
6 RUSSIAN COSMONUATS, 2 EUROPEAN AND 2 JAPANESE ASTRONAUTS CALLED THE STATION HOME.
WE ALSO SAW FOUR SPACEFLIGHT PARTICIPANTS VISIT STATION. ALTOGETHER, THE CREW PERFORMED
13 SPACEWALKS AND WELCOMED 8 CARGO VEHICLES FROM RUSSIA, NORTHROP GRUMMAN AND SPACEX.
NASA’S MARK VANDE HEI ALSO BEGAN WHAT EVENTUALLY TURNED INTO A NEARLY YEAR-LONG STAY ABOARD THE
STATION. SET TO RETURN IN EARLY SPRING 2022, HE’LL COME HOME THE NEW RECORD HOLDER AMONG
U.S. ASTRONAUTS FOR LONGEST SINGLE SPACEFLIGHT, SURPASSING THE MARK OF 340 SET BY SCOTT KELLY.
COMMERCIAL RESUPPLY MISSIONS ENABLED MORE THAN 100 NEW U.S. SCIENCE INVESTIGATIONS
AND TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATIONS. 2021 SAW SOME GROUNDBREAKING RESULTS COME OUT, IN AREAS AS
DIVERSE AS STEM CELL AND TISSUE ENGINEERING, OUR ABILITY TO SHIELD ASTRONAUTS FROM RADIATION,
MINING RARE EARTH ELEMENTS USING MICROORGANISMS AND EVEN INFORMING THE BEST WAY TO MAKE CEMENT ON
THE MOON FOR FUTURE MOON BASES. TO GET A DEEP DIVE ON THESE AND MORE BE SURE TO FOLLOW @ISS_RESEARCH
ON TWITTER AND HEAD OVER TO NASA.GOV/ISS-SCIENCE WHERE THE CRACK TEAM IN OUR PROGRAM RESEARCH
OFFICE IS CONSTANTLY CHURNING OUT NEWS AND IMAGERY ON EVERYTHING SCIENCE ON THE STATION.
2022 IS ALREADY SHAPING UP TO BE A TRANSFORMATIVE YEAR FOR THE STATION,
WITH MORE FIRSTS IN THE WORLD OF COMMERCIAL SPACE.
TARGETING FEBRUARY 2022, THE FIRST ALL PRIVATE FLIGHT TO THE SPACE STATION WILL TAKE OFF
WITH THE AXIOM-1 MISSION. THIS WILL BE THE FIRST OF WHAT WE EXPECT TO BE REGULARLY FLYING MISSIONS
ON U.S. COMMERCIAL SPACECRAFT CARRYING ALL PRIVATE CITIZENS TO VISIT THE STATION.
MISSIONS LIKE THESE ARE A PIECE OF THE CONTINUALLY EXPANDING MARKET FOR COMMERCIAL SPACE,
WITH NEW MODULES AND FREE FLYING SPACE STATIONS ON THE HORIZON IN YEARS TO COME.
OUR COMMERCIAL CREW PROVIDER BOEING WILL ONCE AGAIN MAKE A RUN TO STATION IN THE REFLIGHT
OF THEIR ORBITIAL FLIGHT TEST MISSION, MAKING A MAJOR STRIDE TOWARDS BRINGING TWO INDEPENDENT U.S.
CREW-CAPABLE SPACECRAFT ONLINE TO DELIVER MULTINATIONAL ASTRONAUT CREWS TO THE STATION.
WE’RE AIMING TO FLY THE FIRST CREW ABOARD STARLINER DURING
THE FIRST CREWED FLIGHT TEST TO THE STATION IN THE SECOND HALF OF 2022.
WE’LL HAVE PLENTY OF CARGO FLIGHTS, SPACEWALKS, AND SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS TO FILL THE YEAR,
ALONG WITH THE USUAL CURVEBALLS THAT COME WITH LIVING CONTINUOUSLY
IN OUTER SPACE. BUT IF THIS YEAR SHOWED ANYTHING, THE TEAMS WORKING AROUND THE
WORLD TO SUPPORT OUR SPACE STATION ARE READY FOR EVERYTHING THAT COMES THEIR WAY.
THAT WILL DO IT FOR US IN 2021. WE HOPE YOU GET A CHANCE TO CATCH YOUR
BREATH OVER THE HOLIDAYS AND WERE ABLE TO SHARE IN SOME OF THE JOY AND INSPIRATION
THAT HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT CAN BRING TO EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD. AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR
WATCHING AND KEEP SENDING IN YOUR QUESTIONS USING THE HASHTAG ASKNASA. WE’LL SEE YOU NEXT YEAR.