Archivo de la etiqueta: International Space Station

Station Preparing for Two Crew Ships Nearing Launch

Two rockets on opposites side of the world stand ready to launch to the International Space Station as four Expedition 68 crew members prepare to return to Earth. Meanwhile, some of the orbital residents are relaxing today as others continue their critical microgravity research operations ahead of the upcoming spacecraft arrivals.

The Soyuz MS-23 crew ship will launch passengerless toward the station at 7:24 p.m. EST today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will take a two-day orbital trek before docking to the Poisk module at 8:01 p.m. on Saturday. While the Soyuz spacecraft will arrive unoccupied, it is delivering crew provisions to replenish the seven orbital residents. However, the main purpose of the MS-23 is to return Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio back to Earth later this year. The space station trio arrived at the orbiting lab on the Soyuz MS-22 crew vehicle on Sept. 21, 2022, joining the Expedition 67 crew.

The space station’s three cosmonauts are relaxing today ahead of this weekend’s MS-23 docking activities. Prokopyev and Petelin will be on duty during the crew’s sleep shift on Saturday monitoring the MS-23 as it automatically approaches and docks to the orbital lab. Flight Engineer Anna Kikina will also be up overnight assisting her crewmates.

The rest of the crew aboard the orbiting lab today worked on a variety of science hardware ensuring ongoing research operations in low-Earth orbit. Four crew members are also familiarizing themselves with the procedures they will use when they return to Earth in early March.

Rubio connected cables and attached a camera to an ultra-high temperature furnace to record scientific operations. Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) activated an Astrobee robotic helper and tested its ability to maneuver inside the station without propellant using a specialized hopping technique. At the end of the day, the duo joined NASA Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada and practiced the steps on a computer the steps they would use when departing the station and returning to Earth inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance next month.

Back on Earth, there are three astronauts and one cosmonaut at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida counting down to the launch of their SpaceX Crew-6 mission. The Crew-6 foursome are Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Warren “Woody” Hoburg, both from NASA, and Mission Specialists Sultan Alneyadi of UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos. They will lift off at 1:45 a.m. on Monday from Kennedy soaring toward the station’s space-facing port on the Harmony module for a docking at 2:38 a.m. on Tuesday. The quartet will live and work aboard the orbital outpost for six months conducting advanced space research.

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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Roscosmos, SpaceX Crew Ships Near Launch as Station Prepares

Four Expedition 68 crew members are preparing for their return to Earth next month while also working on space physics and household maintenance tasks. Meanwhile, a two crew ships, one from Roscosmos and one from SpaceX, are nearing their launch to the International Space Station.

NASA Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada reviewed their upcoming departure procedures today ahead of next month’s planned return to Earth inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance. The duo were joined by Flight Engineers Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Anna Kikina of Roscosmos as they looked over the steps they will take during their homebound flight.

The quartet trained on a computer to undock Endurance from the Harmony module, reenter Earth’s atmosphere, and parachute to a safe splashdown in the waters off the coast of Florida. Mann will command Crew Dragon Endurance with Cassada piloting the vehicle as Wakata and Kikina remain seated to either side of the astronauts. The quartet launched to the station on the SpaceX Crew-5 mission on Oct. 5, 2022.

Their replacements will arrive as the Crew-6 mission after it launches on Monday at 1:45 a.m. EST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg will be the respective commander and pilot of Crew Dragon Endeavour. They will be flanked inside the vehicle by astronaut Sultan Alneyadi of the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos. The foursome will dock to the space-facing port of Harmony module at 2:29 a.m. on Tuesday and live and work aboard the orbital outpost for six months conducting critical space research.

NASA TV, on the agency’s app and website, will begin its live Crew-6 launch broadcast on Sunday at 9 p.m. Once the launch broadcast is over, live mission audio will stream until NASA TV resumes with its docking coverage set to begin at 12:45 a.m. on Tuesday.

A passengerless Soyuz MS-23 crew ship is also being readied for lift off at 7:24 p.m. on Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a two-day trek to the space station. Besides delivering provisions for the crew, the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft will return NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin back to Earth later this year.

The orbital residents also have been continuing their science and lab upkeep tasks during the busy visiting vehicle preparations. Rubio, with support from Wakata, installed an ultra-high temperature furnace inside the Kibo laboratory module. The specialized furnace enables safe observations of thermophysical properties of super-heated samples. Mann and Cassada took turns cleaning crew quarters in the overhead and deck portions of the Harmony module.

Prokopyev worked in the Roscosmos segment of the station checking the performance of a 3-D printer. Petelin worked on a pair of different experiments including a fluid physics study and space biology investigation. Kikina wrapped up operations for an Earth observation study and a carbon dioxide monitoring session.

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.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videupdate/

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Mark Garcia

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Muscle Research, BEAM Work Ahead of Crew Ship Launches

The Expedition 68 crew members began the week exploring what microgravity is doing to their bodies and ways to offset those effects. The International Space Station’s residents also inspected BEAM as a pair of crew ships prepare to blast off to the orbital outpost.

Flight Engineers Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) kicked off Monday with muscle scans in the Kibo laboratory module. The pair took turns marking each other’s back, neck, leg, and arm muscles and measuring their biochemical properties. They used both the Myotones device and an Ultrasound scanner to study microgravity’s effect on muscle tone, elasticity, and stiffness. The human research study may inform advanced treatments for muscle conditions on Earth and in space.

NASA Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada spent their Monday partnering on a variety of maintenance activities. Rubio opened up BEAM, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, and entered it performing inspections and organizing cargo inside the seven-year-old module. Cassada also worked inside BEAM collecting atmospheric and surface microbe samples for incubating and analysis.

In the Roscosmos segment of the orbiting lab, cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Anna Kikina tested the lower body negative pressure suit. Doctors are exploring the suit’s ability to counteract the upward flow of body fluids causing head and eye pressure in crew members. Prokopyev also had time for cardiac research before checking the performance of a 3-D printer. Kikina spent the rest of her day on life support maintenance. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin assisted Prokopyev with the cardiac study then collected samples from a science freezer and serviced them for a space biology study.

Two crew ships are poised to launch to the orbiting lab before the end of the month. Teams are assessing the launch date of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, which will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will dock automatically to the Poisk module. The MS-23 will arrive uncrewed but will return home crewmates Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin on a future date.

The SpaceX Crew-6 mission is targeted to launch on Sunday at 2:07 a.m. from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew Dragon Endeavour will carry Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Warren “Woody” Hoburg along with Mission Specialists Sultan Alneyadi and Andrey Fedyaev to the station where they will dock to the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Monday at 2:54 a.m. beginning a six-month space research mission. Bowen and Hoburg are both NASA astronauts and Alneyadi is an astronaut representing the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and Fedyaev is a cosmonaut representing Roscosmos.

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.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videupdate/

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Mark Garcia

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Uncrewed Progress Spacecraft Deorbit Burn Complete

The uncrewed Progress 82 cargo spacecraft conducted a deorbit burn at 10:15 p.m. EST Saturday, Feb. 18, over the Pacific Ocean after spending four months at the International Space Station.

Loaded with trash, Progress 82 undocked from the space station’s Poisk module at 9:26 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 17. The Progress deorbit was delayed about 24-hours while Roscosmos engineers analyzed imagery acquired after undocking of the radiator area of the spacecraft, which is the suspected region where a coolant leak occurred on Feb. 11.

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.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videupdate/

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Mark Garcia

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Uncrewed Progress Spacecraft Deorbit Burn Time Set

On Feb. 17, the uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 82 cargo spacecraft undocked without issue from the International Space Station’s Poisk module at 9:26 p.m. EST. Following undocking, Expedition 68 cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin sent commands from the station’s Roscosmos segment to rotate the Progress for additional visual inspections using space station’s external cameras of the general area where a coolant leak occurred on Feb. 11.

After Progress departure from the space station, flight controllers at Mission Control in Moscow canceled Friday’s scheduled deorbit burn while Roscosmos analyzed the post-undocking imagery collected of the Progress radiator.

Early Saturday, Roscosmos managers decided to deorbit Progress Saturday, Feb. 18, with a deorbit burn time of 10:15 p.m. EST. Progress remains in a stable configuration and on a safe trajectory well away from the International Space Station. Loaded with trash, Progress will deorbit over the Pacific Ocean after spending four months at the station.

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.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videupdate/

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Sandra Jones

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