Archivo de la etiqueta: International Space Station

Crew Packing Dragon, Prepping for Next Spacewalk

Cargo operations are under way aboard the International Space Station amidst a variety of physics and microbiology research activities. The Expedition 69 crew members are also preparing for another spacewalk later this week as they cleanup following last week’s spacewalk.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle is due to undock from the orbital outpost and return to Earth at the end of June. In the meantime, three NASA flight engineers took turns on Tuesday transferring cargo in and out of the vehicle. Astronaut Stephen Bowen resupplied the station with medical supply kits from inside Dragon then loaded the cargo vehicle with expired supplies for disposal. Woody Hoburg and Frank Rubio each spent about two-and-a-half hours throughout the day moving supplies and hardware in and out of Dragon.

The trio also continued cleaning up following last week’s spacewalk when Hoburg and Bowen installed a roll-out solar array on space station’s Starboard-6 truss segment. Rubio scrubbed water cooling loops inside the spacesuits worn by the two spacewalkers. Hoburg and Bowen wrapped up their day stowing their spacewalking tools and spacesuits inside the Quest airlock.

Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi from UAE (United Arab Emirates) completed an experiment run for a study exploring how fuels behave in microgravity possibly improving spacecraft and satellite performance. Later, he joined Hoburg swabbing station surfaces and collecting air samples for microbial incubation and analysis.

Two cosmonauts are getting ready for the ninth spacewalk of the year scheduled to begin about 10:20 a.m. EDT on Thursday. Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin will exit the Poisk airlock and spend about seven hours in the vacuum of space replacing science and communications hardware on the Zvezda and Poisk modules. The duo from Roscosmos spent Tuesday organizing their spacewalking tools and installing components on their Orlan spacesuits.

Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev spent the first part of his day servicing Earth observation hardware then working on orbital plumbing tasks. In the afternoon, he moved to futuristic research wearing a sensor-filled cap that monitored his reactions as he practiced planetary spacecraft and robotic piloting techniques on a computer.

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/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

Crew Ends Week Completing Spacewalk, Preparing for Another

The International Space Station residents are going into the weekend following a busy week of spacewalk activities. The Expedition 69 crew members finished one spacewalk this week and are gearing up for another one next week.

NASA astronauts Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen completed installing the orbital outpost’s sixth roll-out solar array during a spacewalk on Thursday. The pair spent five hours and 35 minutes in the vacuum of space completing the installation job. On June 9, Hoburg and Bowen installed the other roll-out solar array that was delivered inside the SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle on June 6. The very first roll-out solar array was installed exactly two years ago on June 16, 2021, by Expedition 65 spacewalkers Shane Kimbrough of NASA and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency). With the six roll-out solar arrays installed and activated the station’s power generating capacity has been increased by about 30%.

Hoburg and Bowen were joined midday Friday by Flight Engineers Frank Rubio of NASA and Sultan Alneyadi of UAE (United Arab Emirates) for a conference with mission controllers to discuss the previous day’s spacewalk. The standard post-spacewalk debriefing saw the quartet discuss experiences and issues they may have encountered to inform future spacewalks.

The four astronauts also had time for other tasks at the end of the week. Bowen, Hoburg, and Alneyadi took turns transferring cargo in and out of the Dragon cargo vehicle. Alneyadi also recharged water tanks inside spacesuits. Rubio had his eyes scanned with the Ultrasound 2 device with remote guidance from doctors on the ground.

The next spacewalk at the orbital outpost is scheduled to take place on Thursday, June 22, when Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin will exit the Poisk airlock. The duo has been spending the week reviewing procedures and readying spacesuits for next week’s planned seven hour spacewalk. The two cosmonauts will go on their fifth spacewalk together to replace Roscosmos science and communications hardware then photograph the condition of the Zvezda service module.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev started Friday collecting data from radiation sensors that Hoburg and Bowen wore during their spacewalk. Afterward, he spent the rest of the day servicing a carbon dioxide removal device inside the Zvezda service module and cleaning vent screens in the Zarya module.

The space station is orbiting slightly higher after the 83P fired its engines for 13 minutes on Friday. The orbital reboost raises the station to the correct altitude for the upcoming docking of the ISS Progress 84 resupply mission.

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Abby Graf

NASA Spacewalkers Finish Installing Roll-Out Solar Array

Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Woody Hoburg and Steve Bowen of NASA concluded their spacewalk at 2:17 p.m. EDT after 5 hours and 35 minutes.

Hoburg and Bowen completed their major objective to install an IROSA (International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array) to augment power generation for the 1B power channel on the station’s starboard truss structure.

The new array is 60 feet long by 20 feet wide (18.2 meters by 6 meters) and is shading a little more than half of the original array, which is 112 feet long by 39 feet wide. Each new IROSA produces more than 20 kilowatts of electricity and together enable a 30% increase in power production over the station’s current arrays.

NASA and Boeing have a plan in place for a fourth set of roll-out arrays to further augment the International Space Station’s power supply. These arrays, which would be the seventh and eighth installed on space station, are targeted for delivery to the orbital outpost in 2025.

It was the 265th spacewalk in support of space station assembly, upgrades, and maintenance. The spacewalk marked the second for Hoburg and tenth for Bowen, tying him for the most spacewalks by a U.S. astronaut along with Mike Lopez-Alegria, Bob Behnken, Peggy Whitson, and Chris Cassidy.

Hoburg and Bowen are in the midst of a science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.

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/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

Astronauts Begin Spacewalk to Install Roll-Out Solar Array

Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Woody Hoburg and Steve Bowen of NASA began a spacewalk at 8:42 a.m. EDT to install an IROSA (International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array) to augment power generation for the 1B power channel on the station’s starboard truss structure.

Hoburg, designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), is wearing a suit with red stripes. Bowen, designated extravehicular crewmember 2 (EV 2), is in an unmarked suit. Coverage of the spacewalk continues on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

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/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

NASA Astronauts Prepare for Spacewalk Live on NASA TV

NASA Television coverage of today’s spacewalk with NASA astronauts Woody Hoburg and Steve Bowen is now underway and is also available on the NASA app, the space station blog and the agency’s website.

The crew members of Expedition 69 are preparing to exit the International Space Station‘s Quest airlock for a spacewalk expected to begin about 8:55 a.m. EDT and last about six hours.

Hoburg and Bowen will install an IROSA (International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array) to augment power generation for the 1B power channel on the station’s starboard truss structure.

The new array is 60 feet long by 20 feet wide (18.2 meters by 6 meters) and will shade a little more than half of the original array, which is 112 feet long by 39 feet wide. Each new IROSA will produce more than 20 kilowatts of electricity, and once this array is installed, will enable a 30% increase in power production over the station’s current arrays.

Hoburg will serve as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1) and will wear a suit with red stripes. Bowen will serve as extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2) and will wear the unmarked suit. The spacewalk will be the tenth for Bowen and the second for Hoburg.

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/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

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Mark Garcia