Full Day of Life Support and Computer Maintenance on Station

Full Day of Life Support and Computer Maintenance on Station

(Clockwise from left) Astronauts Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins, Kjell Lindgren, and Samantha Cristoforetti pose for a portrait during dinner time in the space station's Unity module.
(Clockwise from left) Astronauts Bob Hines, Jessica Watkins, Kjell Lindgren, and Samantha Cristoforetti pose for a portrait during dinner time in the space station’s Unity module.

Life support and computer maintenance filled the Expedition 67 crew schedule on Tuesday following a busy Labor Day aboard the International Space Station.

The station’s four astronauts focused on a variety of biology and physics research on the U.S. holiday as they photographed growing vegetables and explored how fuel behaves in space. In the orbiting lab’s Russian segment, the crew’s three cosmonauts continued cleaning up after last week’s spacewalk and studied how to exercise effectively in weightlessness.

On Tuesday, the crew’s attention turned to servicing orbital hardware ensuring the space station’s life support systems and computer networks operate continuously.

NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren removed the Tranquility module’s oxygen generation system (OGS) rack and installed it in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module. He was assisted by fellow Flight Engineers Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins who helped remove gear and clear the path for the transfer of the refrigerator-sized OGS rack. The trio completed the installation and cable connections during the afternoon.

Watkins also had time to join ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti as she transferred the Life Support Rack from the Harmony module to Tranquility. Hines and Lindgren wrapped up the day reconfiguring the modules and reinstalling the station’s bathroom, the Waste and Hygiene Compartment located in Tranquility, following the rack transfers.

Roscosmos Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev spent the afternoon installing a computer desktop in the Zvezda service module. The new work area is wide enough to hold three laptop computers supporting a variety of operations including monitoring Russian spaceships arriving and departing. Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov worked on a pair of human research experiments on Tuesday, the first exploring ways to maintain space fitness and the second researching how international crews and mission controllers can communicate successfully.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog@space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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Cosmonaut Spacewalkers Complete Robotics Spacewalk

Cosmonaut Spacewalkers Complete Robotics Spacewalk

Spacewalkers Oleg Artemyev (bottom left) and Denis Matveev (right) extend the Russian Strela cargo crane from the Zarya module toward the Poisk module following work on the European robotic arm. Credit: NASA TV
Spacewalkers Oleg Artemyev (bottom left) and Denis Matveev (right) extend the Russian Strela cargo crane from the Zarya module toward the Poisk module following work on the European robotic arm. Credit: NASA TV

Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev, both of Roscosmos, concluded their spacewalk at 5:12 p.m. EDT after 7 hours and 47 minutes.

Artemyev and Matveev completed their major objectives, which included relocating an external control panel for the European robotic arm from one operating area to another and testing a rigidizing mechanism on the arm that will be used to facilitate the grasping of payloads. In addition, the duo extended a Strela telescoping boom from the Zarya module to the Poisk module.

Additional spacewalks are planned to continue outfitting the European robotic arm and to activate Nauka’s airlock for future spacewalks. The work on the European robotic arm will be used to move spacewalkers and payloads around the Russian segment of the station.

This was the eighth spacewalk in Artemyev’s career, and the fourth for Matveev. It was the eighth spacewalk at the station in 2022 and the 253rd spacewalk  for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.


Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

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