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The Expedition 61 astronauts are in final preparations before Friday’s spacewalk to continue repairing the International Space Station’s cosmic particle detector. The orbital residents also had time today to set up research hardware for upcoming space biology activities.

Spacewalkers Andrew Morgan and Luca Parmitano will exit the Quest airlock on Friday after setting their U.S. spacesuits to battery power at 6:50 a.m. EST. The duo will translate to the far side of the station’s starboard truss structure to continue the intricate work to upgrade the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer’s (AMS) thermal control system. NASA TV begins its live coverage beginning at 5:30 a.m.

Flight Engineers Jessica Meir and Christina Koch will assist the spacewalkers during the excursion from inside the station on Friday. Meir will be on robotics duty maneuvering the Canadarm2 robotic arm while Koch manages their spacesuits.

Even with spacewalk activities dominating the schedule aboard the orbiting lab, the station crew still had time to conduct advanced space research. Meir set up a 3-D bioprinter for a test run today before the device begins manufacturing complex organ-like tissues in space. Koch is readying a variety of life science gear for next week’s operations to study how microgravity affects systems at the cellular level for insights into Earth-bound ailments.

The cosmonauts in the Russian segment of the space station focused primarily on lab maintenance. Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka replaced batteries and dust filters. The duo then packed the Progress 72 (72P) resupply ship with trash and repressurized the station with oxygen from the 72P.

The Expedition 61 crew is gearing up for another complex spacewalk this Friday while juggling an array of advanced science duties today. Three new tiny satellites were also deployed from the International Space Station, continuing to expand the opportunities for space research and technology demonstrations.

Spacewalkers Andrew Morgan and Luca Parmitano are finalizing their review of the intricate work necessary to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer’s (AMS) thermal control system. NASA astronaut Jessica Meir is brushing up on the Canadarm2 robotic arm maneuvers she will use to support the second AMS repair excursion. Live television coverage of this year’s 10^th spacewalk begins Friday at 5:30 a.m. EST on NASA TV.

NASA Flight Engineer Christina Koch spent the majority of her time today on human research and space biology studies. Koch attached sensors to herself and a worked out on an exercise cycle to measure her aerobic output. She then gathered hardware to begin studying microgravity’s impact on cells for the development of potential therapies for Earth and space-bound ailments.

Morgan installed a new incubator that creates artificial gravity to study cells and plants inside Japan’s Kibo laboratory module. Meir serviced microbe samples for DNA sequencing before installing a science freezer inside Kibo’s Life Sciences Glovebox. Parmitano photographed CubeSats ejected into Earth orbit from Kibo’s satellite deployer this morning.

Radiation checks and cardiology research were the focus over in the Russian segment of the orbiting lab today. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Alexander Skvortsov explored how weightlessness affects the heartbeat and blood flow after exploring advanced Earth photography techniques. Cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka collected a variety of radiation detectors and downloaded measurements taken from the U.S. side of the space station.