Spacewalkers to Set Up European Robotic Arm Live on NASA TV
Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA, clad in Russian Orlan spacesuits, will spend about six-and-a-half hours outfitting the European robotic arm on the International Space Station’s Nauka laboratory. Artemyev will wear a Russian spacesuit with red stripes (EV1), while Cristoforetti will wear a Russian suit with blue stripes (EV2).
NASA Television coverage is underway of today’s spacewalk with a Russian cosmonaut and an ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut to continue outfitting the European robotic arm on the International Space Station’s Nauka laboratory. Coverage of the spacewalk is on NASA Television, the NASA app, and agency’s website.
Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA will install platforms and workstation adapter hardware near the European robotic arm, a 37-foot-long manipulator system mounted to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. The spacewalkers also will relocate the arm’s external control panel, replace a protective window on the arm’s camera unit, and extend a Strela telescoping boom from Zarya to Poisk to facilitate future spacewalks.
Artemyev and Cristoforetti will exit out of the Poisk module about 10 a.m. EDT to begin the six-and-a-half-hour excursion. Artemyev will wear a Russian spacesuit with red stripes, while Cristoforetti will wear a Russian suit with blue stripes. This will be the sixth spacewalk in Artemyev’s career, and the first for Cristoforetti. It will be the sixth spacewalk at the station in 2022 and the 251st spacewalk for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
The European robotic arm will be used to move payloads and equipment outside the Russian segment of the station, joining the Canadian-built Canadarm2 robotic arm and the Japanese arm already supporting station maintenance, operations, and research.
Station Set for Thursday Spacewalk as Advanced Space Research Continues
The European robotic arm extends out from the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module during a mobility test.
A Russian cosmonaut and an Italian astronaut are finalizing preparations for a spacewalk on Thursday to configure the International Space Station’s third and newest robotic arm. As the pair was being assisted by two cosmonauts the rest of the Expedition 67 crew ensured ongoing advanced space research was proceeding full speed ahead aboard the orbiting lab.
Station Commander Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency) are scheduled to exit the space station into the vacuum of space at 10 a.m. EDT on Thursday. The spacewalkers will spend about seven hours readying the European robotic arm for operations on the station’s Russian segment. The duo will also deploy 10 nanosatellites to collect radio electronics data. NASA TV begins its live spacewalk coverage at 9:30 a.m. on the agency’s app and website.
Artemyev and Cristoforetti spent Wednesday reviewing their spacewalk procedures and checking Orlan spacesuit components. They were assisted throughout the day by cosmonauts Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov who will monitor the spacewalkers and help them in and out of their Orlan spacesuits on Thursday.
Science operations continued rolling ahead as the rest of the orbital residents explored space-caused accelerated aging, advanced drug development methods, and state-of-the-art optical fiber manufacturing techniques.
NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren studied the mechanisms of protein crystals growing without the influence of Earth’s gravity. Observations from the Advanced Nano Step investigation may improve biochemistry research and advance the production of materials and drugs in space. Lindgren then checked on a water recycling study and stowed its hardware for return to Earth.
A variety of new space science is under way aboard the International Space Station following Saturday’s delivery aboard the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship. The Expedition 67 crew members are helping researchers on the ground take advantage of weightlessness to reveal new phenomena potentially benefitting humans on Earth and in space.
NASA Flight Engineer Bob Hines kicked off a new experiment today that looks at how the human immune system adapts to microgravity. Hines set up the Life Science Glovebox inside the Kibo laboratory module then serviced tissue samples for the Immunosenescence investigation. Results may inform treatments for accelerated aging processes observed in space as well as normal aging conditions on Earth.
NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren spent his day working on a pair of different experiments and configuring science hardware. He first started exploring techniques to manufacture optical fibers in space. Afterward, Lindgren began demonstrating ways to improve water recycling farther away from Earth. The two-time station visitor also disconnected components on a thermal spacesuit experiment and transferred samples stowed in Dragon to science freezers in Kibo and the U.S. Destiny laboratory module.
Astronauts Jessica Watkins of NASA and Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency) studied how motion and distance perception is altered in microgravity. The duo worked in the Columbus laboratory module wearing virtual reality goggles and a neck brace while clicking on a trackball in response to visual and aural stimuli. Insights may lead to improved controls for space vehicles and more effective visual cues on Earth.
NASA Flight Engineers Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines spent Monday unloading some of the more than 5,800 pounds of science experiments and crew supplies delivered on Saturday inside the Dragon cargo craft. The duo transferred time-critical research samples into the orbital lab to begin exploring a variety of space phenomena to benefit humans on and off the Earth. Some of the new experiment include a human immune system study, a protein production investigation, and a cancer treatment experiment.
NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren assisted Watkins and Hines today moving science freezers inside Dragon to access cargo pallets. Lindgren also tended to radishes and mizuna greens growing using hydroponic and aeroponic methods for the XROOTS space botany study. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti tested computer connections inside the European Physiology Module that supports neuroscientific, cardiovascular, and physiological studies inside the Columbus laboratory module.
The station’s three cosmonauts focused mainly on life support maintenance duties. Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev serviced Russian ventilation systems replacing vents and filters. Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov worked on orbital plumbing duties inside the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.
The SpaceX Dragon resupply ship approaches the space station during an orbital sunrise above the Pacific Ocean. Credit: NASA TV
While the International Space Station was traveling more than 267 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean, the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft autonomously docked to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at 11:21 a.m. EDT today, with NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins monitoring operations from the station.
The Dragon launched on SpaceX’s 25th contracted commercial resupply mission for NASA at 8:44 p.m., Thursday, July 14, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After Dragon spends about one month attached to the space station, the spacecraft will return to Earth with cargo and research.
Among the science experiments Dragon is delivering to the space station are:
Mapping Earth’s Dust
The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, employs NASA imaging spectroscopy technology to measure the mineral composition of dust in Earth’s arid regions. Mineral dust blown into the air can travel significant distances and affect Earth’s climate, weather, vegetation, and more. For example, dust containing dark minerals that absorb sunlight can warm an area, while light-colored mineral dust can cool it. Blowing dust also affects air quality, surface conditions such as rate of snow melt, and phytoplankton health in the ocean. The investigation collects images for one year to generate maps of the mineral composition in the regions on Earth that produce dust. Such mapping could advance our understanding of the effects of mineral dust on human populations now and in the future.
Speedier Immune System Aging
Aging is associated with changes in the immune response known as immunosenescence. Microgravity causes changes in human immune cells that resemble this condition, but happen faster than the actual process of aging on Earth. The Immunosenescence investigation, sponsored the by International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory, uses tissue chips to study how microgravity affects immune function during flight and whether immune cells recover post-flight. Tissue chips are small devices that contain human cells in a 3D structure, allowing scientists to test how those cells respond to stresses, drugs, and genetic changes.
Soil in Space
On Earth, complex communities of microorganisms carry out key functions in soil, including cycling of carbon and other nutrients and supporting plant growth. Dynamics of Microbiomes in Space sponsored by NASA’s Division of Biological and Physical Sciences, examines how microgravity affects metabolic interactions in communities of soil microbes. This research focuses on microbe communities that decompose chitin, a natural carbon polymer on Earth.
High School Student Weather Study
BeaverCube is an education mission that will teach high school students aerospace science by having them design a CubeSat. BeaverCube will host one visible and two infrared imagers to measure cloud properties, ocean surface temperatures, and ocean color to study Earth’s climate and weather systems. It also will demonstrate an application for the use of shape memory alloy technology via an in-orbit calibration technique.
Genes, No Cells
Cell-free technology is a platform for producing protein without specialized equipment of living cells that need to be cultured. Genes in Space-9, sponsored by the National Lab, demonstrates cell-free production of protein in microgravity and evaluates two cell-free biosensors that can detect specific target molecules. This technology could provide a simple, portable, and low-cost tool for medical diagnostics, on-demand production of medicine and vaccines, and environmental monitoring on future space missions.
Better Concrete Biopolymer Research for In-Situ Capabilities looks at how microgravity affects the process of creating a concrete alternative made with an organic material and on-site materials, such as lunar or Martian dust, known as a biopolymer soil composite. Using resources available where construction takes place makes it possible to increase the amount of shielding.
These are just a few of the hundreds of investigations currently being conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory in the areas of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, and Earth and space science. Advances in these areas will help keep astronauts healthy during long-duration space travel and demonstrate technologies for future human and robotic exploration beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars through NASA’s Artemis program.
