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Human Research on Station Informing Health in Space and on Earth

Human research is key aboard the International Space Station as NASA and its international partners learn to keep crews healthy during long-term exploration missions. The station hosts a variety of advanced space science hardware enabling these unique experiments and more in the weightless environment of the orbiting lab.

Today aboard the orbiting lab, Expedition 64 Flight Engineers Kate Rubins and Victor Glover collected their blood, urine, and saliva samples, and stowed them for later analysis. Rubins also analyzed white blood cells for the HemoCue study that is demonstrating how to quickly monitor and diagnose crew health conditions, including viral infections and radiation exposure, aboard spacecraft.

NASA Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins spent Wednesday installing and powering up the new KEyence Research Microscope Testbed (KERMIT) microscope. KERMIT will allow astronauts and scientists to view and analyze biological and physical samples both on the station and remotely from the ground. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi worked on the Confocal Space Microscope, which provides fluorescence images of biological samples, during the morning.

The station’s computer network is in the process of being upgraded as Flight Engineer Shannon Walker of NASA spent the day routing new ethernet cables inside the Unity module. Glover assisted station Commander Sergey Ryzhikov and Roscosmos Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov setting up a cinematic virtual reality camera to film the cosmonauts working in the station’s Russian segment.

Ryzhikov was back on plasma physics research Wednesday, downloading data and swapping the gas supply from neon to argon for the study, observing plasma dust crystals in microgravity. Kud-Sverchkov serviced the ventilation system replacing air ducts inside the Rassvet module.

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Mark Garcia

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Science Speeds Up on Station, Next Crew Trains for Launch

The residents living aboard the International Space Station resumed their advanced space research activities today following a well-deserved break on Monday. The Expedition 64 septet conducted vision tests, explored genetic expression, and set up a cinematic virtual reality camera inside the orbital lab.

NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker joined JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Soichi Noguchi testing their visual acuity, visual field, and contrast sensitivity. The quartet tested each other’s vision using an eye chart during the afternoon inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory module.

Noguchi started his day servicing samples for the Ribosome Profiling study observing how mammalian cells regulate themselves in microgravity. Hopkins and Glover also worked on ethernet cable routing and station plumbing tasks.

NASA Flight Engineer Kate Rubins restocked the Human Research Facility-1 with supplies including blood and urine tube kits, ultrasound echo gel, and electrodes. During the afternoon, Walker purged moisture and replaced components inside the Tranquility module’s oxygen generation system.

In the Russian segment of the station, Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov installed gear for the ongoing effort to film life and work on the orbital lab in immersive virtual reality. Commander Sergey Ryzhikov explored plasma physics before filling lab tanks with water from the Progress 77 resupply ship.

Back on Earth in Moscow, three new Expedition 65 crew members have completed their qualification exams for their launch aboard the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship on April 9. Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei of NASA and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos will flank Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy during their three-and-a-half-hour ride to their new home in space for the next six months.

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Mark Garcia

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