Archivo de la etiqueta: International Space Station

NASA, SpaceX Stand Down 24 Hours for Dragon Undocking

NASA and SpaceX are standing down from Thursday’s undocking opportunity of Dragon, filled with science, from the International Space Station. Mission teams will continue to review weather conditions off the coast of California, which currently are not favorable for splashdown operations, and set a new target opportunity for the return of SpaceX’s 32nd commercial resupply services mission for NASA.

The next weather review is planned for 12 p.m. EDT, with the next available undocking opportunity on Friday, May 23. NASA will provide additional information on the next undocking opportunity as available.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Crew Packs Dragon for Thursday Departure and Keeps Up Research

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is one day away from departing the International Space Station and the Expedition 73 crew members are finishing packing it with science and cargo. The orbital residents also continued their life science activities and lab maintenance duties on Wednesday.

Four station astronauts worked together throughout their day loading several tons of completed science experiments and station hardware inside Dragon. NASA Flight Engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers kicked off their shift loading and securing a variety of cargo inside the spacecraft ahead of its departure and undocking planned for 12:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday. Toward the end of their shift, they removed portable science freezers containing research samples from station EXPRESS racks and installed them inside Dragon.

Station Commander Takuya Onishi spent the majority of his day assisting with the Dragon loading as the U.S. spacecraft nears the end of 30 days docked to the Harmony module’s space-facing port. NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim, who will be on duty Thursday monitoring Dragon as it departs the station, also joined in on the cargo transfers. The four crew members will be back on cargo duty early Thursday loading time sensitive, critical research samples on Dragon for the ride back to Earth. NASA+ will begin its live broadcast of Dragon’s departure at 11:45 a.m. Thursday.

Numerous space science investigations continued on Wednesday exploring space agriculture and human research aboard the orbital outpost. Ayers, at the end of her shift, wrapped up a botany study in the Destiny laboratory module exploring if genetically modified tomato plants can grow with techniques other than photosynthesis. Kim activated a series of student-designed experiments investigating how microgravity affects different disease mechanisms possibly leading to new, more advanced therapies.

Veteran Roscosmos Flight Engineer Sergey Ryzhikov completed a 24-hour session disconnecting sensors that measured his heart activity and blood pressure. Next, Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky attached sensors to himself and began his 24-hour heart and blood pressure monitoring session. Ryzhikov later set up Earth observation hardware to image the planet’s nighttime atmosphere in ultraviolet wavelengths. Zubritskiy also pointed a camera at Earth imaging Brazil, Italy, Mauritania across a wide range of wavelengths.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer and first-time space flyer Kirill Peskov was back inside the Nauka science module working on maintenance of the European robotic arm (ERA). Kirill checked the ERA’s computer interface, safety features, and electrical systems. Nauka and the ERA were launched aboard a Proton rocket on July 21, 2021. Nauka with the ERA attached autonomously docked a few days later to the Zvezda service module’s Earth-facing port on July 29.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Exercise Research, Growing Space Crops, and Science Packing Fill Day

Tuesday saw more space biology work aboard the International Space Station helping doctors learn how to protect health and preserve life in microgravity. The Expedition 73 residents also continued their cargo activities packing a U.S. and a Roscosmos cargo craft before their upcoming departures.

NASA Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers kicked off her shift wearing a sensor-filled vest and headband that measured her physical parameters as she pedaled on an exercise cycle. She was working out for the Cardiobreath human research study that is exploring how an astronaut’s cardiovascular and respiratory systems adapt to weightlessness. The vest and headband are part of the Bio-Monitor medical hardware system developed by the Canadian Space Agency to comfortably monitor crew health as astronauts go about their daily activities. At the end of her day, Ayers photographed genetically engineered, extremely dwarf tomato plants being grown to test their ability to grow without photosynthesis and in confined spaces potentially supporting crop production on spacecraft.

Ayers also joined NASA Flight Engineer Anne McClain and transferred frozen research samples into portable science freezers that will soon be packed inside the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. McCain also installed EXPRESS rack hardware that houses science experiments and more research samples inside Dragon. The U.S. cargo spacecraft is being readied to end its cargo mission and undock from the Harmony module’s space-facing port at 12:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday. Dragon will parachute back to Earth the following day and return the completed science experiments and space station hardware for retrieval and analysis.

Station Commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) started his day inside the Kibo laboratory module photographing microbe samples that decompose organic matter and packing them for stowage inside the homebound Dragon. Afterward, Onishi installed research hardware on a slide table and placed it inside Kibo’s airlock where it will soon be placed in the vacuum of space. Finally, the two-time station visitor collected space radiation-exposed biological samples for return and analysis back on Earth.

NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim joined his cosmonaut crewmates Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy and conducted an emergency drill, locating medical hardware and practicing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the orbiting lab’s weightless environment. The trio launched to the orbital outpost aboard the Soyuz MS-27 crew ship on April 8 from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome and docked to the Prichal module just over three hours later.

Kim earlier measured sound levels in the space station’s habitable segments then swapped neon gas bottles for argon gas bottles to support the Plasma Crystal-4 space physics study. Ryzhikov and Zubritskiy participated in a study exploring ways international crews and mission controllers can improve communications.

Ryzhikov also strapped on sensors at the beginning of his shift for a 24-hour session measuring his heart activity and blood pressure. Zubritskiy partnered with Roscosmos Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov and stowed cargo inside the Progress 90 resupply ship that has been docked to the Poisk module since Nov. 23. The Progress 90 is due to take out the trash end its seven-month mission in early July when it undocks from Poisk and reenters Earth’s atmosphere above the South Pacific Ocean for a fiery, but safe destruction.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Space Biology Kicks Off Workweek as Crew Packs Dragon

The Expedition 73 crew kicked off the work week studying space biology to learn how to counteract the effects of weightlessness on the human body. The International Space Station residents are also packing the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft for its departure this week and practicing using the European robotic arm.

NASA Flight Engineers Jonny Kim and Anne McClain spent all day Monday testing a thigh cuff that may prevent the space-caused, upward flow of blood and other fluids toward a crew member’s upper body. Common symptoms include head and eye pressure, as well as the notable “puffy face.” Kim wore the thigh cuff as McClain measured his blood pressure and scanned his vessels using the Ultrasound 2 device. Doctors on the ground monitored in real time the effectiveness of the biomedical hardware to learn how to protect an astronaut’s eye structure and vision.

Roscosmos Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky started their day wearing sensors measuring their exhalation rate following a deep breath helping doctors understand how microgravity affects the respiratory system. Next, Ryzhikov swapped neon gas bottles for argon gas bottles for the Plasma Crystal-4 space physics study investigating complex plasmas, or low-temperature gaseous mixtures such as ionized gas, neutral gas, and micron-sized particles. Zubritsky conducted a photographic inspection inside the Zvezda service module.

Commander Takuya Onishi from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) joined NASA Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers inside Dragon loading cargo ahead of its undocking scheduled for 12:05 p.m. EDT on Thursday with NASA+ live coverage beginning at 11:45 a.m. They will finalize cargo packing on Wednesday when the crew installs time critical, sample-packed portable science freezers inside Dragon for analysis back on Earth.

Onishi also processed protein crystal samples inside the inside the Advanced Space Experiment Processor-4 to learn how to synthesize medications during deep space missions. Ayers photographed Onishi during his science activities then joined McClain at the end of the day for a hearing exam.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov trained to use the European robotic arm (ERA) using a computer interface inside the Nauka science module. ERA and Nauka both launched on July 21, 2021, inside a Proton rocket from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome. Nauka with the ERA attached autonomously docked to Zvezda’s Earth-facing port on July 29.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark A. Garcia

Friday is Full of Advancing Dragon Cargo Stowage, Advanced Research, and Maintenance of Orbital Systems

The Expedition 73 crew aboard the International Space Station continued work with Dragon cargo, advanced space experiments, and maintenance of orbital systems.

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers with the help of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut and station commander Takuya Onishi work continued building toward the undocking of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft by stowing and transferring cargo inside the spacecraft.

Ongoing work with the Advanced Space Experiment Processor (ADSEP-4) was carried out by NASA astronaut Jonny Kim as he worked through various steps removing quadcassettes from the ADSEP-4 then replaced and retrieved the crystallizer inside of the ADSEP ICC cassette and installed the newly configured quadcassette. For historical documentation Onishi photographed Kim’s work with the ADSEP-4. Results from this new technology with the Advanced Space Experiment Processor (ADSEP-4) could demonstrate that pharmaceutical production in space can be scaled up, supporting the fabrication of materials in space for commercial applications.

Both Onishi, McClain, and Ayers worked on the Environmental Health System’s (EHS) Exploration Potable Water Dispenser. Onishi collected station water samples for in-flight and post-flight analysis. He performed a water sample analysis with focus on detecting various microbes to determine the water quality onboard the station. Meanwhile McClain and Ayers removed and replaced the Exploration Potable Water Dispenser’s controller cards and performed a checks to verify functionality.

McClain later worked to deploy the Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG) work volume and set up the Extant Life Volumetric Imaging System (ELVIS) hardware in the glovebox where she later retrieved and inserted samples from the laboratory freezer. ELVIS is a microscope for 3D imaging of objects as small as bacteria, with the goal of making the technology available to anyone studying microscopic motion in space. The technology demonstration tests the microscope by studying active behavior and genetic changes in microalgae and marine bacteria strains. The imaging technology could be used to monitor water quality, detect potentially infectious organisms, and study liquid mixtures and microorganisms in space and on Earth.

Ayers removed the sophonster container, sensor container, and the microSd card and packed it for stowage. She also inserted a sample into a box module within Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) to refrigerate it. The freezer is a cold storage unit that maintains experiment samples at ultra-cold temperatures throughout a mission.

The station’s three cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritskiy, and Kirill Peskov continued with more Russian segment maintenance. Ryzhikov conducted additional Russian segment inspection activities. Together Ryzhikov and Zubritskiy removed protective screens from the BTN-NEUTRON-2 which is a nuclear physics experiment located in the Russian segment that measures the neutron component of the radiation background in the near-Earth space, spatial and temporal distribution of neutron fluxes and spectra, during solar flares. Peskov continued with his work to reconfiguring and restoring the ventilation system that connects the Russian and U.S. segments.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts. Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: https://www.nasa.gov/subscribe.

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Kelcie Nicole Howren