NASA will provide coverage of spacewalks Monday, April 18, and Thursday, April 28, as Russian cosmonauts venture outside the International Space Station to activate a new robotic arm attached to the Nauka module.
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It was a very busy day aboard the International Space Station as the 11-person crew focused on human research experiments and spacewalk preparations. Back on Earth, four Commercial Crew astronauts are in quarantine ahead of their planned to launch to the orbiting lab in less than two weeks.
Expedition 67 Commander Tom Marshburn of NASA began his day continuing to explore how living in space affects cellular aging and cardiac cells. Afterward, he moved on and assisted the four Axiom Mission 1 astronauts with their packed schedule of microgravity research. Flight Engineers Kayla Barron of NASA and Matthias Maurer of ESA (European Space Agency) collected and stowed their blood samples in the morning for an ongoing muscle biochemical properties study.
Next, Barron serviced a diverse array of research hardware throughout the day including the Life Science Glovebox, a mixed-reality headset, and finally a science freezer. Maurer set up acoustic monitoring hardware before powering up the CIMON mobile artificial intelligence companion for a technology demonstration.
NASA Flight Engineer Raja Chari configured a commercial microscope that can be operated on the station and remotely from the ground to streamline imaging and analysis for a variety of space research. Chari then turned his attention to departure preparations for he and his SpaceX Crew-3 crewmates at the end of the month before wrapping up the day with orbital plumbing activities.
Two spacewalks with cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev are currently scheduled for April 18 and 28. Today, the duo was joined by fellow cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov and reviewed the procedures the spacewalkers will use during both excursions to ready the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for the European Robotic Arm (ERA).
The four Axiom Mission 1 astronauts had a full day of space science and commercial and private activities. Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria resumed his cancer research while Pilot Larry Connor continued testing a miniature antenna. Mission Specialists Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy were back exploring brain dynamics and transmitting 3D images of humans to space.
The next Commercial Crew mission to the orbiting lab, SpaceX Crew-4, is now targeted to launch on April 23 at 5:26 a.m. EDT. The mission’s four astronauts, including Commander Kjell Lindgren, Pilot Robert Hines, and Mission Specialists Jessica Watkins and Samantha Cristoforetti, have entered their quarantine period to ensure their health and protect the crew aboard the orbiting lab.
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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What looks like a red butterfly in space is in reality a nursery for hundreds of baby stars, revealed in this infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.
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The 11 astronauts and cosmonauts living aboard the International Space Station today worked on a multitude of science experiments that may improve life for humans on and off the Earth. The space research on the orbiting lab ran the gamut of biology, physics and Earth observations.
Expedition 67 Commander Tom Marshburn set up a glucometer and blood tubes to explore how living in weightlessness affects insulin resistance for the Vascular Aging study. He also continued helping the four Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) astronauts get up to speed with operations aboard the space station.
Flight Engineer Raja Chari of NASA configured Actiwatches that monitor light conditions and an astronaut’s activities to help doctors understand a crew member’s wake-sleep in space. NASA Flight Engineer Kayla Barron worked inside the Life Science Glovebox and set up the Fluidic Space Optics experiment that could impact the development of space telescopes. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer collected air samples for chemical analysis then set up blood collection hardware for the Myotones muscle biomechanics study.
Veteran astronaut and Ax-1 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria researched how space affects brain activity and increases the risk of cancer. Ax-1 Pilot Larry Connor also explored brain dynamics, then installed a miniature antenna demonstration, and held an educational event with students on Earth.
The two Ax-1 Mission Specialists also had a full schedule researching a variety of space phenomena throughout the orbiting lab on Tuesday. Israeli crew member Eytan Stibbe assisted Connor with the antenna work then focused on the space liquid behavior study that Barron had set up earlier. Mark Pathy from Canada photographed Earth landmarks from inside the cupola then explored holoportation while wearing an augmented reality headset.
The station’s three cosmonauts from Roscosmos focused on their contingent of activities throughout the orbiting lab’s Russian segment. Veteran cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev worked on cargo activities inside the ISS Progress 79 resupply ship, then joined first time space-flyer Sergey Korsakov and trained for operations of the European Robotic Arm. New cosmonaut Denis Matveev studied advanced Earth photography techniques and worked on maintenance activities.
Mark Garcia
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On April 12, 1981, NASA launched is first Space Transportation System, or space shuttle, mission, carrying astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen into orbit.
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