NASA and researchers from around the world will present new findings on a wide range of Earth and space science topics at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), Dec. 1-17, held virtually this year.
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NASA will hold a media teleconference Thursday, Dec. 3, at 1 p.m. EST to announce the companies it has selected to collect lunar resources as part of the Artemis program.
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Cargo operations are underway at the International Space Station as a U.S. resupply ship prepares for launch and another prepares for departure. Meanwhile, a host of microgravity research is keeping the Expedition 64 crew busy.
SpaceX is preparing its upgraded SpaceX Dragon cargo craft for a launch from Florida on Dec. 5 and a rendezvous with the orbiting lab about 24 hours later. This will be the first automated docking of the Cargo Dragon. Astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover will be monitoring Dragon’s arrival to the Harmony module’s space-facing port with more than 6,400 pounds of space freight, including the NanoRacks Bishop airlock.
However today, Rubins worked on science gear stowing external experiments brought in from outside the Kibo laboratory module then cleaned up the Advanced Plant Habitat after Monday’s radish harvest. Glover joined JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi for a physical fitness test on the station’s exercise bike to evaluate microgravity’s impact on their cardiopulmonary function.
The Earth-facing port of the Unity module hosts the outgoing Cygnus resupply ship from Northrop Grumman. Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins worked today packing the cargo craft with trash and old gear. Cygnus will depart the space station later this month, conduct an automated space combustion experiment then reenter the atmosphere for a fiery, but safe demise above the Pacific Ocean.
Hopkins later joined fellow NASA Flight Engineer Shannon Walker for health checks Wednesday morning consisting of temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory measurements. Walker then spent the afternoon reorganizing food items making space for additional cargo aboard the station.
Commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos worked on electronics and life support maintenance tasks throughout Wednesday. Cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov primarily worked on life support gear before servicing the power supply system in the Zarya module.
Mark Garcia
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This illustration shows Earth surrounded by theoretical filaments of dark matter called «hairs.»
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The International Space Station is gearing up for the next-generation SpaceX Dragon cargo craft due to lift off this weekend. Meanwhile, the seven-member Expedition 64 crew kicked off the work week on space botany and human research.
The newest Dragon resupply ship from SpaceX is due to launch to the station on Saturday at 11:39 a.m. EST with over 6,500 pounds of crew supplies and station hardware, including the NanoRacks Bishop airlock. The upgraded vehicle will dock on its own for the first time to the space-facing port of the Harmony module adjacent to the recently arrived Crew Dragon spacecraft.
NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover reviewed approach, rendezvous and hatch opening procedures today. They will be monitoring its arrival and docking set for Sunday at 11:30 a.m. Cargo Dragon vehicles were previously captured and installed using the Canadarm2 robotic arm.
Rubins later spent the rest of the afternoon harvesting radish plants that have been growing for four weeks inside the Columbus laboratory module. Glover also joined Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi for a study that is exploring how astronauts perceive time in microgravity which can impact physical and cognitive performance.
Exercise in space is critical so that astronauts remain fit and healthy and able to withstand the rigors of physically demanding tasks such as spacewalks and returning to Earth’s gravity. Flight Engineers Michael Hopkins and Shannon Walker attached sensors to themselves today and took turns on an exercise bike to measure their cardiopulmonary function. Observations from today’s exercise study may help improve physical stamina to sustain crews on longer term missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Station Commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos worked throughout the day on life support maintenance and communication tests. His fellow cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov also checked out communications gear and worked on a pair of Russian experiments exploring the Earth’s upper atmosphere and advanced space photography techniques.
Mark Garcia
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