NASA will host a media teleconference at 4:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, July 16, to provide an update on the status of the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope, the world’s next premier infrared space observatory and the largest, most complex space telescope for astronomy ever built.
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Two NASA astronauts finalized their preparations today, ahead of Thursday’s spacewalk, to complete battery swaps on the outside of the International Space Station. NASA Flight Engineer Bob Behnken and Expedition 63 Commander Chris Cassidy organized their tools and readied the Quest airlock for the spacewalk set to begin tomorrow at 7:35 a.m.
NASA astronaut Doug Hurley joined the duo Wednesday afternoon for a spacewalk review and conference with specialists on the ground. Hurley will assist the astronauts in and out of their U.S. spacesuits and monitor their spacewalk activities.
The trio will stay in readiness mode for a second spacewalk scheduled to begin at the same time on Tuesday, July 21. They will finish swapping the aging nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries on the station’s truss structure that began 3.5 years ago. The veteran spacewalkers will then set up the Tranquility module for the upcoming installation of a NanoRacks airlock. The new commercial airlock will support public and private experiments exposed to the space environment.
All three astronauts started the day with standard health checks ahead of their spacewalk. Hurley took on the crew medical officer role and briefly examined his crewmates similar to a doctor conducting a checkup on Earth.
Meanwhile, cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner were back on human research duty this morning. The Russian duo collected and stowed blood and saliva samples for a pair of studies looking into bone loss and the immune system. The pair then split up as Ivanishin checked out communications gear and Vagner worked on Progress 75 resupply ship cargo transfers.
Mark Garcia
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The crew snapped this starry nighttime shot of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding cities on the Brazilian coast, as the International Space Station orbited above São Paolo.
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Two astronauts are concentrating on the final set of power upgrade spacewalks on the International Space Station beginning this week. Meanwhile, their Expedition 63 crewmates continued focusing on biology research to ensure humans stay healthy in space during long-term missions.
Flight Engineer Bob Behnken and Commander Chris Cassidy for preparing for a pair of spacewalks to wrap up battery swaps and ready the orbiting lab for a new airlock. The duo collected and organized spacewalk tools then studied their tasks step-by-step on a computer during the afternoon. Fellow NASA astronaut Doug Hurley assisted the pair and installed their spacesuit batteries and metal oxide canisters to remove carbon dioxide from the suit.
Behnken and Cassidy will exit the station for the first spacewalk on Thursday. The spacewalk is scheduled to begin at 7:35 a.m. EDT. The spacewalkers will spend about seven hours removing aging nickel-hydrogen batteries and replacing them with new lithium-ion batteries on the Starboard-3 truss structure. NASA TV begins its live coverage at 6 a.m.
The second spacewalk is scheduled to start at the same time on Tuesday, July 21, for the final battery swaps to complete 3.5 years of external power upgrades on the space station. Behnken and Cassidy will then begin outfitting the Tranquility module for a new commercial airlock from NanoRacks. The airlock, designed to deploy public and private experiments, will be installed to Tranquility after its delivery later this year aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle.
Meanwhile, a host of space science continues aboard the orbiting lab including human research to maintain healthy crews. NASA and its international partners are studying how the human body adapts to microgravity as they plan longer missions farther out into space.
The two cosmonauts from Roscosmos, Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, were once again exploring ways to stave off the negative effects of living in space. Vagner continued logging his meals and drinks and collected a blood sample for a study that seeks to reverse the loss of bone mass caused by microgravity. He later collected his saliva sample and attached a sensor to himself for an immune system investigation. Ivanishin exercised on a treadmill for a physical fitness evaluation and spent the rest of the day on communications and ventilation maintenance.
Mark Garcia
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In this image, NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover waits to be lifted onto its Atlas V launch vehicle at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 7, 2020.
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