Astronauts Make Final Preparations for Friday’s Spacewalk
NASA astronauts (from left) Woody Hoburg, Frank Rubio, and Stephen Bowen talk to elementary and junior high school students on Earth.
Four Expedition 69 astronauts are making final preparations ahead of Friday’s spacewalk to continue upgrading the International Space Station’s power generation system. Meanwhile, the orbital outpost’s three cosmonauts focused on heart research and plasma physics while ensuring station systems remain in tip-top shape.
NASA Flight Engineers Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg are scheduled to set their Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), or spacesuits, to battery power at 9:15 a.m. EDT on Friday officially beginning a spacewalk to install roll-out solar arrays on the station’s starboard truss structure. Ahead of the spacewalk, the duo staged their EMUs and spacewalking tools inside the Quest airlock where they will exit the station into the vacuum of space. The two astronauts were also joined by Flight Engineers Frank Rubio of NASA and Sultan Alneyadi of UAE (United Arab Emirates) for a final review of their spacewalking tasks and robotic support procedures. Rubio and Alneyadi will assist Bowen and Hoburg from inside the station on Friday.
The roll-out solar arrays arrived on Tuesday after the SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle docked to the orbital lab following its Monday launch. Ground engineers on Wednesday remotely-commanded the Canadarm2 robotic arm to remove the solar arrays from Dragon’s unpressurized trunk and attach them to a pallet on the starboard truss in preparation for Friday’s installation spacewalk. This will be the station’s fifth roll-out solar array improving its power-generating capability by 30%.
On the Roscosmos side of the space station, Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin partnered together for a long-running study into the effects of weightlessness on the human heart. Prokopyev later disconnected hardware that supported a plasma study that explores electrically-charged micro-particles such as electrons, ions, and neutral gases. Petelin investigated ways to improve communications with international crews and mission controllers from around the world. Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev worked throughout the day on computer and power systems maintenance.
Dragon Delivers Solar Arrays Setting Up Friday’s Spacewalk
The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft approaches the station for an automated docking above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan on June 6, 2023.
Expedition 69 crew members have opened the hatch to the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft and begun unpacking several tons of cargo packed inside. Stowed inside the resupply ship is a pair of roll-out solar arrays that will soon be removed for installation on the International Space Station during the next spacewalk.
Dragon craft docked to the orbital outpost’s Harmony module at 5:54 a.m. EDT on Monday less than a day after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Dragon’s hatch was opened less than two hours later following the completion of standard air and pressure leaks. Soon after, Flight Engineers Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, and Woody Hoburg, all from NASA, and Sultan Alneyadi from UAE (United Arab Emirates) entered Dragon and began offloading some of the more than 7,000 pounds of science experiments, station hardware, and crew supplies packed inside.
Controllers on the ground will also command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to extract a pair of roll-out solar arrays stowed inside Dragon’s unpressurized trunk. The remotely-controlled Canadarm2 will gently maneuver the solar arrays and temporarily stow them on a pallet attached to the station’s starboard-side truss structure. The robotic transfer work prepares the solar arrays for installation and activation on the starboard truss structure during a spacewalk planned to start at 9:15 a.m. on Friday.
Bowen and Hoburg will be the two spacewalkers installing the station’s fifth set of roll-out solar arrays on Friday. The two astronauts began Wednesday morning organizing tools and reviewing the procedures they will use during the seven-hour spacewalk. Rubio and Alneyadi, who will assist the spacewalkers from inside the station, also participated in the tool work and procedure reviews. The quartet will get back together on Thursday for final preparations including a last look at the spacewalk procedures, a final robotics review, and a conference with mission specialists on the ground.
In the midst of Wednesday’s spacewalk preparations, the four astronauts fit in other duties including running science experiments and maintaining lab operations. Bowen set up standard optometry gear found in a doctor’s office on Earth and imaged Hoburg’s eyes for a human research study. Rubio continued unpacking Dragon while Alneyadi conducted test runs of an Astrobee robotic free-flying assistant.
The station’s three cosmonauts had their day full of research, electronics maintenance, and cargo duties in the Roscosmos segment of the orbiting lab. Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev took turns wearing a cap packed with sensors that monitored their brain activity while practicing futuristic robotic and spacecraft piloting techniques on a computer. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin worked throughout the day testing power and data cables in the Zvezda service module before transferring cargo from the ISS Progress 84 space freighter.
Dragon Docks to Station, Delivers New Cargo and Solar Arrays
June 6, 2023: International Space Station Configuration. Five spaceships are docked at the space station including the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour, the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft, and Roscosmos’ Soyuz MS-23 crew ship and Progress 83 and 84 resupply ships.
While the International Space Station was traveling approximately 270 miles over the coast of Brazil, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft autonomously docked to the station’s Harmony module at 5:54 a.m. EDT, with NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg monitoring operations.
The SpaceX Dragon launched as part of the company’s 28th contracted commercial resupply services mission for NASA at 11:47 a.m. EDT, June 5, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Dragon will spend about three weeks attached to the space station before it returns to Earth with cargo and research.
The SpaceX Dragon has delivered a pair of IROSAs (International Space Station Roll Out Solar Arrays) that, once installed, will expand the energy-production capabilities of the microgravity complex.
Among the science experiments Dragon delivered to the space station are:
Thunderstorm Watch
What Happens Above Thunderstorms (Thor-Davis), an investigation from ESA (European Space Agency), observes thunderstorms from the space station. This vantage point allows researchers to see the electrical activity from above, particularly the inception, frequency, and altitude of recently discovered blue discharges. Scientists plan to estimate the energy of these phenomena to determine their effect on the atmosphere. A better understanding of lightning and electrical activity in Earth’s atmosphere could improve atmospheric models and provide a better understanding of Earth’s climate and weather.
Helping Plants Chill in Space
Plants exposed to environmental stress, including spaceflight, undergo changes to adapt, but those changes may not be passed on to the next generation. Plant Habitat-03 (PH-03) assesses whether plants grown in space can transfer such adaptations to the next generation and, if so, whether a change continues through subsequent generations or stabilizes.
The investigation creates a second generation of plants using seeds previously produced in space and returned to Earth. Results could provide insight into how to grow multiple generations of plants to provide food and other services on future space missions. This investigation also could support development of strategies for adapting crops and other economically important plants to marginal and reclaimed habitats on Earth.
Testing a Telomere Technique
Telomeres, genetic structures that protect our chromosomes, shorten with age and wear. But research has shown that telomeres lengthen in space. Genes in Space-10 tests a technique for measuring telomere length in microgravity, where methods typically employed on Earth are difficult to use due to gravity. The experiment explores whether telomere lengthening in space is caused by proliferation of stem cells — undifferentiated cells that give rise to specific body components and that typically have long telomeres.
Understanding the mechanism behind telomere lengthening could reveal possible effects on astronaut health during long-duration missions. Results also could lay the groundwork for a variety of related research to benefit future space travel and people on the ground.
Genes in Space is a national contest for students in grades 7 through 12 to design biotechnology experiments for space. The program is sponsored by miniPCR, Math for America, Boeing, New England Biolabs Ltd., and the ISS National Laboratory.
Thawing Ice, Solar Storms, and Attitude Recovery
Mission 26 for the station’s Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) includes Educational Space Science and Engineering CubeSat Experiment Mission (ESSENCE), sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory and developed by universities in Canada and Australia. It carries a wide-angle camera to monitor thawing of ice and permafrost in the Canadian Arctic, which could provide a better understanding of the effects on Earth’s climate and support better local infrastructure planning.
The satellite also carries a solar energetic proton detector to collect data on periods of solar activity that emit highly energized radioactive protons that can damage the structure and electronic components of spacecraft. Understanding these effects could help make future CubeSats more resistant to radiation. In addition, the investigation demonstrates a novel method to recover control of a satellite’s attitude, or orientation, if a control mechanism fails. ESSENCE is part of the Canadian CubeSat Project, led by CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
Watching Cosmic Weathering
Iris, sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory, observes weathering of geological samples exposed to direct solar and background cosmic radiation and determines whether changes are visually detectable. The investigation also demonstrates experimental sun sensors, torque rods (which provide attitude control and detumbling for satellites), and a battery heater. A collaboration between graduate, undergraduate, and middle school students in Canada, the project provides hands-on experience that promotes interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics studies and careers.
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 benefit life on Earth, 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 through NASA’s Artemis missions and eventually Mars.
Dragon Cargo Craft Approaches Station Live on NASA TV
The SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply ship is pictured approaching the space station on June 5, 2021.
A SpaceX Dragon is on track to arrive at the International Space Station, Tuesday, June 6, with an expected docking of the cargo spacecraft about 5:50 a.m. EDT. Live coverage is underway on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
When it arrives to the space station, Dragon will dock to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.
The uncrewed SpaceX Dragon successfully launched on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket at 11:47 a.m. on June 5, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying more than 7,000 pounds of research, hardware, and supplies to the International Space Station.
Spacewalk Preps, Science Work as Dragon Counts Down to Launch
Astronaut Sultan Alneyadi sets up hardware for a protein crystal growth experiment on May 30, 2023, that may shorten the development cycle for new drugs.
Spacesuits and science filled the Expedition 69 schedule at the end of the workweek aboard the International Space Station. Back on Earth, a cargo-filled U.S. resupply ship is counting down to its launch to replenish the residents living on the orbital outpost.
NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg are preparing for a June 9 spacewalk to install one of two new roll-out solar arrays on the space station’s starboard-side truss structure. The duo spent Friday morning configuring their Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), or spacesuits, and readying their spacewalk tools inside the Quest airlock. Hoburg then joined NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio in the afternoon for a fit check of his EMU.
The crew also continued its ongoing microgravity research to improve health on Earth and in space. Bowen set up blood samples in a centrifuge before stowing them in a science freezer to learn how spaceflight affects cellular immune functions. UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi pedaled on an exercise while attached to sensors monitoring his breathing and blood pressure for the Cardiobreath astronaut health study. Rubio swapped out protein crystal samples in the Kibo laboratory module for a study advancing biochemistry research in space.
Roscosmos Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin and Andrey Fedyaev worked together on Friday for a human research study that investigates how microgravity affects the digestion process. Commander Sergey Prokopyev studied how micro-particles such as electrons, ions, and neutral gases, interact and turn into plasma crystals when exposed to electrical charges.
The SpaceX Dragon cargo craft is counting down to launch at 12:35 p.m. EDT on Saturday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with two new roll-out solar arrays packed inside its unpressurized trunk. Mission managers polled the station and Dragon teams on Thursday and reported all systems are go for launch to the orbiting lab. However, weather forecasters on Friday announced conditions at the launch pad are 70% no-go with scattered thunderstorms predicted for both Saturday and Sunday launch attempts.
For now, Dragon’s automated rendezvous and docking the Harmony module’s space-facing port is scheduled for 5:36 a.m. on Monday. Two days after that the Canadarm2 robotic arm will extract the roll-out solar arrays from Dragon’s trunk and stage them on a pallet attached to the starboard truss. The two spacewalkers will then be able to retrieve the solar arrays and begin the installation work.
