This infrared view of Jupiter’s icy moon Ganymede was obtained by the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during its July 20, 2021, flyby.
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The Expedition 65 crew was multi-tasking today working on everything from physics research to U.S. spacesuits to cargo transfers from Russia’s new science module. Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is on track to resupply the International Space Station next week.
Station Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Thomas Pesquet were back on science duty today conducting more runs for the InSpace-4 space-manufacturing study. The investigation takes place inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox researching ways to harness nanoparticles and develop advanced materials in microgravity to improve space and Earth systems.
The duo will also be watching Cygnus approach the space station a day-and-a-half after its launch from Virginia on Aug. 10 at 5:56 p.m. EDT. McArthur will command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple Cygnus at 6:10 a.m. on Aug. 12. Pesquet will back her up as he monitors the U.S. cargo craft’s approach and rendezvous.
NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei joined Commander Akihiko Hoshide gathering spacewalking tools and checking spacesuit tethers inside the U.S. Quest airlock. The crew is ramping up for a spacewalk to prepare the orbital lab’s Port-4 truss structure ahead of the installation of the next set of roll out solar arrays.
Throughout Thursday, Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough worked on three different EXPRESS racks which are refrigerator-sized research devices supporting a wide variety of science experiments. Kimbrough first repaired components with minor damage inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory module’s EXPRESS-11 rack. Afterward, the three-time station visitor removed an incubator from the Kibo laboratory module’s EXPRESS rack-8 and installed it in the Columbus laboratory module’s EXPRESS rack-3.
Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov continued unpacking hardware delivered inside the new “Nauka” Multipurpose Laboratory Module. Novitskiy also worked on water transfers from the ISS Progress 78 cargo craft while Dubrov photographed microbes growing for a Russian science experiment.
Mark Garcia
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In this self-portrait from 2018, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover sits atop Vera Rubin Ridge, which the rover had been investigating.
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Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew ship will roll back to its Vehicle Integration Facility so mission teams can examine the cause of unexpected valve position indications on the spacecraft’s propulsion system. Starliner’s launch targeted for today was halted as a result.
NASA and Boeing are analyzing indications that not all of Starliner’s valves were in the proper configuration needed for launch. The commercial crew partners will take the time necessary to ensure Starliner is ready to launch on Orbital Flight Test-2 to the International Space Station.
Meanwhile, the Expedition 65 crew explored space physics and transferred cargo from a new Russian science module on Wednesday.
Station Flight Engineers Megan McArthur, Mark Vande Hei and Thomas Pesquet took turns today researching ways to harness nanoparticles for the InSpace-4 space-manufacturing study. The space physics investigation takes place inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox and seeks to develop advanced materials in microgravity to improve and strengthen spacecraft and Earthbound systems.
NASA Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough worked in the U.S. Quest airlock on Wednesday removing particles from a smoke detector. Commander Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency replaced lights in the Kibo laboratory module then moved on to orbital plumbing tasks inside the Tranquility module’s waste and hygiene compartment.
Over in the Russian segment of the orbiting lab, cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov partnered up to unpack cargo delivered inside the new “Nauka” Multipurpose Laboratory Module. The duo then took turns exploring spacecraft and robotic piloting techniques for future planetary missions.
Continued analysis following last week’s event with unplanned thruster firings on Nauka has shown the space station remains in good shape with systems performing normally. Post-event reconstructions showed that the station experienced a total attitude change of approximately 540 degrees. Most importantly, the maximum rate and acceleration of the attitude change did not approach safety limits for station systems and normal operations resumed once attitude control was regained.
Mark Garcia
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NASA and Northrop Grumman are targeting 5:56 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Aug. 10, for the company’s 16th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station.
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