The Colors of Water
Much like the sky, rivers are rarely painted one color.
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Crew Hearing Checks, Lab Cleanup after Dragon Splashes Down
Crew Hearing Checks, Lab Cleanup after Dragon Splashes Down
A U.S. resupply ship completed its 24th International Space Station cargo mission after returning to Earth on Monday afternoon. Meanwhile, back in space the Expedition 66 crew had hearing tests while working on a myriad of orbiting lab and science maintenance tasks.
The SpaceX Cargo Dragon space freighter parachuted to a splashdown off the coast of Florida carrying over 4,900 pounds of science experiments and station hardware on Monday at 4:05 p.m. EST. The commercial cargo craft undocked from the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Sunday at 10:40 a.m. completing a 32-days attached to the space station.
On Tuesday, three astronauts participated in a pair of different hearing studies. Flight Engineer Matthias Maurer of ESA (European Space Agency) kicked off his day working on the Audio Diagnostics study to measure how station noise levels impact an astronaut’s hearing. At the end of their day, NASA Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Raja Chari took part in a hearing assessment as part of regularly scheduled exams.
Continuous orbital maintenance is necessary to keep the station and its multitude of systems in tip-top shape. NASA astronaut Kayla Barron worked on transferring water into tanks, then searched for a camera pan tilt unit for the Mission Control based Inventory and Stowage Officer before cleaning up the U.S. Quest airlock after spacesuit battery work. NASA Flight Engineer Thomas Marshburn organized cables in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module before making space inside the Leonardo permanent multipurpose laboratory module ahead of an upcoming U.S. cargo mission.
Over in the Russian segment of the station, Commander Anton Shkaplerov participated in a human research study to determine the effectiveness of exercising in weightlessness. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov assisted the commander during the exercise study then worked on European Robotic Arm computer systems inside the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.
Mark Garcia
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X-59 Wind Tunnel Testing at NASA Glenn
X-59 Wind Tunnel Testing at NASA Glenn
This colorized schlieren image is of a small-scale model of NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology airplane.
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Cargo Dragon Splashes Down Ending SpaceX CRS-24 Mission
Cargo Dragon Splashes Down Ending SpaceX CRS-24 Mission
SpaceX’s upgraded Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down at 4:05 p.m. EST off the Florida coast, marking the return of the company’s 24th contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. The spacecraft carried more than 4,900 pounds of valuable scientific experiments and other cargo back to Earth.
Splashing down off the coast of Florida enables quick transportation of the experiments to NASA’s Space Station Processing Facility at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, allowing researchers to collect data with minimal sample exposure to Earth’s gravity.
Some of the scientific investigations that Dragon will return to Earth include:
- Last light: A state-of-the-art light imaging microscope, the Light Microscopy Module (LMM) will return after about 12 years on the station. LMM, sponsored by NASA’s Division of Biological and Physical Sciences, made it possible to observe and record the way matter is organized and moves on the microscopic level, and supported ground-breaking colloid research, plant studies, and thermophysics experiments.
- Tiny structures, assemble: The InSPACE-4 physics study is returning samples that could provide insight into how to harness nanoparticles to fabricate and manufacture new materials, including medical diagnostics and thermal shields for Earth and space applications.
- Cell signaling in microgravity: The ESA (European Space Agency) investigation Cytoskeleton contributes to understanding of how the human body responds to microgravity. The study could support development of countermeasures to help astronaut crew members maintain optimum health on future space missions.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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Mark Garcia
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Dragon Returning to Earth Today; Crew Studies Agriculture, Physics
Dragon Returning to Earth Today; Crew Studies Agriculture, Physics
A U.S. space freighter is due to return to Earth today after undocking from the International Space Station on Sunday morning. Back on the orbiting lab, the seven-member Expedition 66 crew researched space agriculture and physics.
The SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply ship is due to end its mission today returning to Earth over 4,900 pounds of science experiments and station hardware for analysis and inspection. Dragon had undocked from the station on Sunday at 10:40 a.m. EST.
Dragon will fire its braking engines Monday afternoon dropping the cargo craft out of orbit and back into Earth’s atmosphere. The U.S. spacecraft will parachute to a splashdown off the coast Florida at 4:05 p.m. EST. NASA TV will not broadcast the cargo craft’s return to Earth and splashdown activities.
Meanwhile, space science continued on the orbital lab as the crew explored a wide variety of microgravity phenomena today. A pair of botany studies kept NASA Flight Engineers Raja Chari and Kayla Barron busy with the duo investigating how to grow crops in space and how microgravity affects cotton genetics. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer installed hardware for the Fluidics experiment to study how to optimize fuel systems for spacecraft.
Maintenance is always ongoing aboard the station ensuring the crew stays healthy and lab systems operate successfully. NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei started the day tearing down and stowing unused life support gear then photographed payload racks to document their current configurations. NASA Flight Engineer Thomas Marshburn worked throughout the day on U.S. spacesuit batteries and chargers.
Cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov spent the day conducting their complement of science and maintenance in the orbiting lab’s Russian segment. Shkaplerov used a myograph to measure his muscle strength in microgravity before routing air ducts inside the ISS Progress 79 cargo craft. Dubrov had some minor post-spacewalk cleanup work to do prior to swapping fuel bottles inside the Combustion Integrated Rack.
Mark Garcia
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