NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 26, to discuss select science investigations launching on the next SpaceX commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station.
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The measures countries have taken in response to COVID-19, ranging from large-scale lockdowns to the mass deployment of personal protective equipment, have resulted in environmental effects.
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The International Space Station raised its orbit today to get ready for an upcoming Russian resupply mission due to launch at the end of June. Meanwhile, the Expedition 65 crew continued its biology studies, spacewalk preparations and orbital lab maintenance on Thursday.
The ISS Progress 77 cargo craft, docked to the Pirs docking compartment, fired its thrusters shortly after 1 p.m. EDT today slightly lifting the station’s orbit. The half-mile orbital boost readies the orbiting lab for the ISS Progress 78 resupply ship due to launch on June 30 from Kazakhstan and dock to the Poisk module two days later.
Immune system research has been underway all week with NASA Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Megan McArthur collaborating on the Celestial Immunity experiment. Vande Hei once again started his day retrieving donor cells from a science freezer, thawing them and spinning the samples in a centrifuge. McArthur followed that work treating the samples to document differences from sample cultures harvested on Earth. Results could lead to improved vaccines and treatments for diseases on Earth, as well as advance the commercialization of space.
Commander Akihiko Hoshide set up the Confocal Microscope today to get ready for the Cell Gravisensing study that seeks to understand how individual animal cells detect gravity. The three-time station visitor also collected and stowed his saliva samples for the Standard Measures study then checked his blood pressure for the Vascular Aging investigation.
NASA Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough continued his orbital plumbing duties today with more troubleshooting in the Tranquility module’s Water Processing Assembly (WPA). Astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency assisted Kimbrough with the WPA work and also serviced computers and cables throughout the day.
The year’s sixth spacewalk is set for June 2 for external maintenance and science experiment installations on the station’s Russian segment. Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, who spent Thursday morning inspecting their Orlan spacesuits, will spend about six-and-a-hours outside the lab during their first career excursions. The duo split up in the afternoon and worked on a variety of life support and ventilation systems.
Mark Garcia
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NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei gets detailed views of his retina as part of regularly scheduled eye checks on the station.
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The Expedition 65 crew is staying focused on numerous life science experiments aboard the International Space Station today while gearing up for three spacewalks in June.
The Celestial Immunity study has been ongoing aboard the orbital lab since shortly after it arrived on the SpaceX Crew-2 mission. NASA Flight Engineer Megan McArthur started Wednesday retrieving donor cell samples from a science freezer before thawing and spinning the cells in a centrifuge. Next, NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei inoculated and treated the sample cultures to help scientists observe the differences from samples harvested on Earth. Results could lead to improved vaccines and treatments for diseases on Earth, as well as advance the commercialization of space.
Akihiko Hoshide, Japan’s second station commander, spent the day on a variety of human research studies. In the morning, he took glucose measurements and collected blood samples for the Phospho-Aging and Vascular Aging studies looking at bone, muscle and artery changes in space. Hoshide then took turns with ESA Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet wearing a virtual reality headset and clicking a trackball for the Time Perception experiment. Researchers are exploring how astronauts perceive space and time which may impact navigation and fine motor coordination in microgravity.
Over in the Tranquility module, NASA Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough, with assistance from Vande Hei and Pesquet, continued more maintenance work on the Water Processing Assembly (WPA) due to a suspected leak. The WPA, which recycles water into drinkable water, has been powered down for several days during the troubleshooting work. The crew is fine and has several months of water supply on the station if necessary.
Next month’s first spacewalk is planned for June 2. Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov will spend about six-and-a-hours on external maintenance and installing science experiments. Novitskiy worked on Orlan spacesuit maintenance today before joining Dubrov for more Russian cardiac research to understand how weightlessness affects the circulatory system.
In mid-June, two U.S. spacewalks are planned for the installation of a pair of new solar arrays on the station’s Port-6 truss structure. Four more solar arrays will be installed on upcoming spacewalks to augment the orbiting lab’s power systems.
Mark Garcia
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