Japan’s Cargo Spacecraft Nears Departure as Crew Works Spacewalk Preps, Science
Mission managers have given the go for a Japanese cargo spacecraft to depart the International Space Station at the end of the week. Meanwhile, the Expedition 74 crew is reviewing upcoming spacewalk procedures, packing a second cargo spacecraft for its departure, studying artificial intelligence tools, and conducting Earth observations.
JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) HTV-X1 cargo spacecraft is packed with disposable cargo and ready to complete its mission at the orbital outpost in two steps. First, at 1:25 p.m. on Thursday, March 5, the Canadarm2 robotic arm will uninstall the HTV-X1 from the Harmony module’s Earth-facing port and place it in a temporary parking position. Japanese mission controllers will then conduct sensor demonstration tests on the HTV-X1 while it is still in the grips of the Canadarm2. Finally, at 12 p.m. EST on Friday, Feb. 6, Canadarm2 will release it into Earth orbit where it will conduct three more months of science activities at a safe distance from the orbiting lab. Live release coverage begins at 11:45 a.m. EST on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel.
Spacewalk preparations are underway as the astronauts gear up to ready the space station for a new roll-out solar array later this month. NASA will soon announce the date and name the two spacewalkers who will install a modification kit and route cables on the port side of the orbital lab where the roll-out solar array will be attached on a future spacewalk. This will be the seventh roll-out solar array on the station augmenting the main solar arrays’ power generation capabilities.
Flight engineers Jack Hathaway of NASA and Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) joined each other in the first half of their Tuesday shift and reviewed procedures for the upcoming spacewalk. The duo, both first-time space flyers, printed out checklists, familiarized themselves with tools and the Quest airlock where spacewalks are staged, and studied emergency procedures. Hathaway also configured a spacesuit installing its components, checking a helmet, and cleaning suit seals.
NASA flight engineers Jessica Meir and Chris Williams began their shift partnering together and transferring standard emergency hardware from the space station to a docked SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that launched the Crew-12 mission. Meir then moved on and assisted Adenot loading trash and obsolete gear inside the Cygnus XL cargo craft that is due to end its mission next week when the Canadarm2 grapples it and releases it for an atmospheric reentry above the south Pacific Ocean.
In the Roscosmos segment of the orbiting laboratory, station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov worked throughout the day using molecular beams to study the growth of high purity semiconductor materials in microgravity. Flight engineers Sergei Mikaev and Andrey Fedyaev took turns installing and operating a pair of Earth observation experiments. Fedyaev first configured photography equipment then captured imagery of landmarks across South America. Afterward, Mikaev installed automated multi-wavelength photography gear and programmed it to capture more South American landmarks as well as African landmarks during the crew’s sleep shift. Mikaev also continued studying using artificial intelligence tools as a way to improve crew operations and communications with mission controllers.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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Mark A. Garcia
