May 19-25, 2025 / Vol 44, No 20 / Hawai`i Island, USA

10 Humans in Space Work on Life and Material Sciences Aboard ISS and TSS

Orbiting the Earth 16x a day is the International Space Station and current Expedition 73 crew: Commander Takuya Onishi, and Astronauts Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky and Jonny Kim. Docked are SpaceX Dragon Crew-10, Dragon CRS-32 cargo, Soyuz MS-27 crew, and Progress 90 & 91 resupply ships. Expedition 73 is loading Dragon CRS-32 with return materials and health research for its planned return on May 22. At any given time over 200 experiments are ongoing at ISS; recent experiments are exploring DNA-inspired nanomaterials and how fire reacts in microgravity. On June 8 the Axiom 4 mission is set to launch to ISS for a 2-week mission. It will carry 4-person crew Commander Peggy Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla from India, Sławosz Uznański from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. Aboard the next-gen space station, Tiangong, the newly-arrived three-member crew Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie of Shenzhou 20 are now 1-month into their 6-month stay and focusing on life science experiments. Being studied are Zebrafish (for bone loss and cardiovascular systems), flatworms (for regeneration) and an aerobic bacteria and a source of antibiotics (enzyme and substance expression). More EVAs are planned for this mission to install more space debris protection equipment, as well as experiments involving high-temperature superconducting materials, maintenance on essential life support systems, and testing various exercise equipment. (Image credits: NASA, ISS Partners, CNSA, CMSEO, CCTV)

MONDAY

☆ May 19 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 73 seven-member crew performing stowage transfers to Dragon CRS-32, intending to undock this week; doing exercise training while wearing monitors / sensors, high temperature materials research, student educational outreach on HAM Radio, Earth observation, collecting air samples for analysis, and maintaining orbital systems.

☆ May 19 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 20 three-member crew preparing and releasing video showing spacewalk to install debris shield and check equipment; enjoying that a 1.8m 55kg humanoid robot named Tiangong in honor of the station has won the world’s first half-marathon for bipedal machines; new TSS module being confirmed to launch (no timeline) to give expanded space for science and more docking ports.

★ May 19 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink Group 12-15, SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Next batch of Starlink satellites to launch for LEO mega-constellation.

o May 19-21 — European Space Resources Innovation Centre, ESA, Luxembourg Space Agency, Luxembourg Institute for Science and Technology, Luxembourg: Luxembourg Space Resources Week 2025; at European Convention Center.

Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium Is Development Hotbed

Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) marks 5 years since its 2020 launch by NASA in support of its Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII), to identify technological needs and solutions necessary for establishing a lasting human and robotic presence on the Moon, beginning with the Artemis Mission. Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory manages the Consortium, and LSIC 2025 Spring Meeting is May 20-22 in Laurel, Maryland. Private, non-profit, academic and government people get NASA updates, and their innovations are presented. LSIC has 3,500+ members from ~1,000 organizations in all USA states / territories and 68 countries. To encourage innovation, everyone is invited to join, whether as an individual or part of an organization, whether a student or a seasoned professional. LSII has made progress because of the vibrant LSIC community, with inventions already on the way to the Moon in 6 key areas: Surface Power, Environment Extremes, Polar / Far Side Access, Dust Mitigation, ISRU and Construction.  The refrain is: We’re going to the Moon… are you ready? In-person attendance is limited, and remote participants are welcome. The panel on Moon landers, Getting Gear On the Surface, is hosted by NASA CLPS Project Manager Adam Schlesinger and features representatives from commercial lunar lander leading enterprises Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, Astrobotic, ispace-US and Blue Origin. (Image Credits: NASA, LSIC/JHU-APL)

 TUESDAY

★ May 20 —  SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Starlink Group 11-16, SLC-4E, Vandenberg SFB CA: Next batch of Starlink satellites to launch for LEO mega-constellation.

● May 20 — SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Drake Awards 2025; given in honor of Frank Drake, a pioneer of search for extraterrestrial intelligence; co-hosted by Nadia Drake, daughter of Frank Drake.

o May 20 — ESA, JAXA, NASA, Online / Paris, France: Letters Of Intent Due; proposals from scientists to augment the science of BepiColombo, an interdisciplinary mission to Mercury.

● May 20-22 — Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, Laurel MD: 2025 Spring Meeting of the LSIC; panel on Moon landers includes reps from Firefly, IM, Astrobotic, ispace-US and Blue Origin, is hosted by NASA CLPS manager.

● May 20-22 — LPI, USRA, NASA, West Lafayette IN: Small Sample Handling Workshop; hands-on training in manipulation / micromanipulation from experts from NASA Johnson, Purdue and LPI; for 4-6 participants.

☾ May 20 — Moon: At last quarter, 01:59.

☆ May 20 — Amor Asteroid 2025 JE1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.029 AU)

WEDNESDAY

☾ May 21 — Chang’E-4 Queqiao, Earth-Moon Lagrange Point L2: China Queqiao “bridge of magpies” satellite reaches 7 full years / enters 8th year in space today, launched 2018 for far-side communications to Earth from CE-4 lander / rover.

● May 21 — Maryland Space Business Roundtable, Greenbelt MD: MSBR Luncheon: Science and Engineering of NASA’s Dragonfly Mission; with Elena Adams (JHUAPL, Dragonfly Lander Systems Engineer) and Melissa Trainer (GSFC, Dragonfly PI).

☆ May 21 — Apollo Asteroid 2025 HM15: Near-Earth Flyby (0.084 AU)