Questions tagged [procedure]
Questions about the steps in a process, or what procedures exist for a space exploration activity.
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What are the implications of claiming space heritage if you don't have it?
What would be the legal implications if a Company have claimed they have Spaceflight heritage for it's products, but the heritage was for the previous Company, which the owner shut it for legal ...
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What is the definition of a "spacecraft emergency" at the ISS, and what is the response to it?
Several sources including the Orange County Register are reporting that a "spacecraft emergency" was declared today onboard the ISS due to the new MLM module's uncommanded thruster firings ...
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Do standard procedures for securing the ISS before an orbital boost burn include making sure that at least large objects are securely "strapped down"?
In discussions on previous posts it was debated whether ISS crew would need to "batten down the hatches" and confirm all objects were "lashed to the deck" before an orbital boost ...
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How are operational procedures developed?
In anticipation of the upcoming Ingenuity flight, I have found myself wondering how procedures are developed by spacecraft operators.
How is a go/no go procedure created? How does the team create a ...
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How were STS SRBs disassembled
What was the process for disassembling the SRBs following their recovery?
Was it broken down to the field or factory seal level of segments, and how was it taken apart?
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What were the space shuttle’s emergency procedures for an SRB or ET separation failure?
The space shuttle, like most launch vehicles, was a multistage vehicle (albeit one where the various stages were mostly stuck to the sides of each other rather than being stacked vertically), reducing ...
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Why are checklists the way they are?
Checklists from different programs are quite different, they are also different from typical aviation checklists.
The ISS checklists are full of special characters, e.g. √, boxes around numbers, some ...
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Why dwell when checking for leaks on AMS-02?
On spacewalk 4/4 of the AMS-02 repair mission, Luca discovered a leak in one of the spliced coolant lines. They then had to wait an hour after a repair before re-testing the joint; a 'mandatory dwell'....
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How do ISS astronauts keep proficient on capsule procedures in long duration missions?
Before astronauts and cosmonauts go to the ISS they have months of simulator training on Soyuz spacecraft procedures for launch, rendezvous, docking and re-entry. Yet, once they are on the ISS they ...
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How much of the printed materials (manuals, instructions etc.) were allocated for the crew's use in Space Shuttles?
Whilst watching youtube video of an occasional Soyuz spacecraft launch (Soyuz ТМА-19М in this case), I've noticed (at 8:07) this large bundle of books.
Another video of TMA-16M flight at 39:40 shows ...
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First actions taken after identifying a potentially catastrophic decompression?
Organic Marble gave an answer to my question "Procedures if there was a shuttle decompression in the vacuum of space," precisely as I worded the request.
The wording of my question was imprecise so ...
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Procedures if there was a shuttle decompression in the vacuum of space
Has NASA ever published what the space shuttle astronauts would be tasked to do if a potentially catastrophic decompression occurred in space.
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What happens after a crew finishes putting out a fire?
I was reading the question How do we use Fire Extinguishers to Control Fire in the Space Station?
This got me thinking about how the crew would clean-up after a fire. How do they decide if the ...
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Slide rope way from launch pad of space shuttle?
In the MIT OCW of Aerospace System Engineering lecture 14 at 37:40, Prof Jeffery Hoffman talks about ropeway from space shuttle that goes to a bunker and then they have to ride a military tank !
I ...
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Is there any reason that NASA's launched space probes and MERs usually operate decades longer than expected?
Space Probes & MERs History Recap
Pioneer 10 & its twin probe Pioneer 11 reference
Courtesy of Uwe's response on my question :-
Pioneer 10 was planned for 21 months of operation. It did ...
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What are some practices of space exploration that are no longer acceptable?
I'm sure that for every good idea that made it into a spaceship design, there had to be plenty of bad ideas. There's most likely a bunch of old designs (or practices) that passed previously, but would ...
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Will the January 2018 government shutdown affect the Falcon Heavy launch?
The Falcon Heavy is currently undergoing testing at Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39A, which SpaceX is leasing from NASA. The hold-down test firing, according to the previously-linked article, may occur ...
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What would the procedure be in the event of a collision warning on the ISS
In the event of something accidently being placed into the same orbital path as the ISS and on an imminent collision course, assuming it would be an object with the potential to cause some damage or ...
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Does the ISS have a watch system with at least one person monitoring at all times
Does the ISS keep a standing watch with one person always up and awake and monitoring while the others sleep, or do all the astronauts sleep and work and they all get alerted in case of issues beyond ...
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Why do ISS crew members often cross their arms?
I am watching live stream from ISS to follow the return of two ISS crew members, Thomas Pesquet and Oleg Novitskiy.
At several moments, they crossed their arms in a not really natural way:
Why do ...
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Are all rockets sent to ISS blessed by a priest?
When the last batch of astronauts were sent to ISS, I read that the crew and rocket were blessed by a priest. Was this a one-time thing, or is it standard?
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What do scientists see when they track space probes?
First, I already understand the basics of radio communication at this point, as that is all I've found searching elsewhere on the web for my question. (For example, How does NASA get information from ...
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Is the inner airlock hatch kept open in-between spacewalks on the ISS?
Clarification: I'm talking about the INNER airlock door.
Keeping the airlock closed in-between spacewalks sounds safer:
In case of accidental puncture of the outside of the module, this has no ...
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What was this Ziploc bag used for on an Apollo 14 moonwalk?
And how the heck would an astronaut have opened it with his gloves on? Is that bag likely to still be there in good condition, or would it have been broken down by radiation by now? Was it normal to ...
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What decides if a launch has to be done instantaneously or during a window?
What determines if a launch has to be done instantaneously or has a launch window of minutes or hours? To what parts is it about celestial and ground issues?
Just one example of alleged switching ...
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How would civilians send snacks to the ISS crew?
Today I saw a video in which ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti teaches us how to make pitas in space, and invites us to try to make them at home. I understand that much of the food on the ISS is ...
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What would NASA have done if they knew Columbia was catastrophically damaged?
When the Columbia Shuttle broke apart in 2003, it was known after the launch that a piece of foam had fallen and hit the Shuttle. NASA apparently chose not to investigate it as well as they could have....
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Do astronauts only perform spacewalks while the ISS is on the night side of the Earth?
Do International Space Station astronauts have to perform spacewalks only while its not facing the Sun directly? If so, I'm curious about the reason behind it. Is it only because they would be ...
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Emergency plan for Soyuz missions
Recent ISS Cargo delivery via Progress ship was a failure, and it seems that Russian mission control lost the cargo ship completely.
Since Progress ship is basically the same design as Soyuz:
What ...
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Why were Space Shuttle astronauts able to walk off the orbiter?
I am watching loads of ISS related videos and there is one detail I recently noticed;
At the time, when Space Shuttles were still in operation and visiting ISS, when astronauts returned home, they ...
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Why do ISS astronauts use lower quality microphones for official radio communication than for PR events?
In the first seconds of this video you can see/hear ISS astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti prepare for a PR event:
During the preparation she uses two different ...
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Does Star Trek's adherence to naval tradition have roots in NASA or earlier real organizations?
I know this sounds off topic, but bear with me. This is a question about real world space agencies.
Is it well established that Star Trek follows naval tradition. For example its ranks come from ...
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What exactly were the controller roles in the Apollo go/no-go calls?
In the Apollo era, whenever there was a significant event about to occur, the flight director (I can recall the voice of Gene Kranz) would do a sort of go/no-go "roll call". He would call off names ...
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Short EFT-1 missions launch window
I have been following the Orion flight test this morning hoping that the engineers could finally manage to launch the spacecraft on time and I was disappointed when the scrubbing was communicated.
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How are accidents involving rockets and space vessels investigated?
There have been two accidents in the past week, the Antares launch of Orbital Science's CRS-3 mission, and the test flight of SpaceShip Two that went awry, resulting in the death of one of the two ...
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Why do they say "go" and "no go"
I'm sure we're all familiar with the go/no go standard phrasing for reporting whether something is OK or not. Having a standard phrasing clearly makes comprehension easier and more reliable, ...
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With one out of two Thermal Control Systems on ISS malfunctioning, how long can Loop B keep up with increased load?
International Space Station (ISS) is in trouble again. One of the two Thermal Control System (TCS) loops (Loop A) is malfunctioning due to a troublesome Flow Control Valve (FCV). This is nothing new ...
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Has any spacecraft had a way for the crew to escape during reentry?
All manned spacecraft to date have come back to Earth eventually, and when they do it's through a flaming ball of plasma.
It seems too probable that this plasma would have a way of breaking things ...
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Why have a 10 minute pause at T-4 minutes?
I was watching the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket launching NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) to Mars today, and the countdown contained a planned 10 minute pause at T-...
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Why are three cosmonauts required to move a Soyuz?
The opening paragraph of this article caught my eye*:
Three space station crew members put on spacesuits and boarded their Soyuz spacecraft Friday for a short trip to relocate the capsule to a new ...
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How are multiple launches handled?
A spacecraft may launch with multiple payload, as is evidenced by How does a single rocket place multiple satellites into orbit?
This question however is not about multiple payload carried in a ...
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What are the procedures aboard the ISS in the eventuality of a loss of a crew member?
So far, all the space exploration related events that resulted in Loss of Crew (LOC) took a complete crew, and as far as we're aware, no accident in space that resulted in the loss of human life, be ...
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