Archivo de la etiqueta: iss

Station Prepares for Axiom Mission 4, Studies How Body Adapts to Space

The Expedition 73 crew is preparing to welcome the arrival of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) and its four astronauts to the International Space Station next week. Station Commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and NASA Flight Engineers Jonny Kim, Anne McClain, and Nichole Ayers joined each other on Tuesday and reviewed the upcoming private astronaut mission. The station quartet called down to mission managers and discussed Ax-4 operations and station readiness.

Ax-4 is targeted to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 8:22 a.m. EDT on June 10 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson will command Ax-4 and lead Indian Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uzanański-Wiśniewksi from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary to the orbital outpost. The Ax-4 astronauts will ride inside Dragon for an autonomous docking to the station’s space-facing port on the Harmony module at 12:30 p.m. on June 11.

Earlier on Tuesday, Onishi once again collected his blood, saliva, and urine samples for processing and cold stowage to analyze the specimens for space-caused molecular, metabolic, and microbial changes in crew members. Next, he inspected multi-layer insulation and joints on the Japanese robotic arm’s Small Fine Arm for potential repairs.

Onishi also participated in an exercise study with McClain with the pair taking turns pedaling on the Destiny laboratory module’s exercise cycle. They each wore chest electrodes and breathing gear to measure their aerobic capacity, or the maximum amount of oxygen the body uses during exercise, in microgravity.

McClain later partnered with Ayers and stowed hardware inside the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM. Ayers also assisted Onishi with the robotics inspection work inside the Kibo laboratory module before reconfiguring electronics and networking gear inside Harmony.

NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim continued his 48-hour health monitoring session changing out a sensor-packed headband and vest after working out on the advanced resistive exercise device and jogging on the COLBERT treadmill. He took off the first set of biomedical devices so they could hang out to dry then put on the second set of health monitoring garments and performed breathing calibrations and applied Ultrasound Echo gel on the electrodes.

Veteran Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov joined Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritskiy and serviced a neutron radiation detector before inspection duties inside the Zvezda service module. Zubritskiy also set up Earth observation hardware photographing ocean and sea-based landmarks across North America and Europe. Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov also pointed a camera outside a space station window and photographed European rivers and glaciers.

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

Axiom Mission 4 Targets Launch No Earlier than Tuesday, June 10

NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 8:22 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 10, for launch of the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 4. This shift allows teams to account for predicted inclement weather during the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft transport in addition to completing final processing of the spacecraft ahead of launch.

Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission, while ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists are ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

The crew will lift off aboard Dragon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

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 Preps for Fourth Axiom Private Mission, Keeps up Human Research

The Expedition 73 crew members are turning their attention to the upcoming fourth private mission from Axiom Space. While the International Space Station crewmates prepare for the Ax-4 quartet’s arrival aboard a SpaceX Dragon they also continued studying how their bodies are adapting to weightlessness in the midst of ongoing lab maintenance duties.

Axiom Mission-4 (Ax-4) is preparing for its launch to the orbital outpost this month carrying experienced astronaut Peggy Whitson as commander and three first-time space flyers including Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla from India and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uzanański-Wiśniewksi from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary to the orbital outpost. NASA Flight Engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers spent a portion of their shift on Monday reviewing procedures they will use from inside the space station when the Ax-4 crew aboard the Dragon approaches the space station to begin a two-week space research mission.

Earlier during her shift, McClain opened up the Destiny laboratory module’s Combustion Integrated Rack and replaced experiment samples and research components inside the sealed chamber that allows exploration of how fuels and flames behave in weightlessness. Ayers relocated and inspected hardware that monitors airborne particles in the station’s atmosphere then staged hardware that will soon be stowed inside BEAM, or the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module.

NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim began a 48-hour session wearing a biomedical vest and headband being tested for their ability to comfortably measure a crew member’s health data during daily activities. Next, he wrapped up his shift stowing bags and cleaning up packing materials following the departure of the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft on May 23.

Station Commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) worked on standard human research duties Monday collecting his blood, saliva, and urine samples for stowage in a science freezer and later analysis. He also swapped a memory card inside radio frequency identification hardware, downloaded station acoustic data, and serviced the water storage system.

Veteran cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov assisted fellow Roscosmos Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritskiy who wore virtual reality glasses for an investigation of how a crew member’s sense of balance and visual tracking adjust to microgravity. Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov pointed a camera outside a window on the orbital outpost’s Roscosmos segment and photographed landmarks including the Amazon delta, the Volga River delta, the Aral Sea, and more.

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

Week Ends with Vein Scans, Brain Research, and 3D Microscope Test

Vein scans and hearing checks were the main human research activities aboard the International Space Station on Friday ensuring the Expedition 73 crew remains healthy. The orbital residents also tested a 3D microscope and kept up the maintenance of the orbital outpost at the end of the week.

NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim activated the Ultrasound 2 device inside the Columbus laboratory module and scanned the neck, shoulder, and leg veins of Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy. Afterward, station Commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) took control of the biomedical activities and scanned the veins of Kim. Doctors on the ground monitored the downlinked ultrasound imagery in real time gaining insight into the condition of the crew’s cardiovascular system in microgravity.

Kim also took turns with Ryzhikov and Zubritskiy and participated in a computerized hearing exam with remote support from doctors on the ground. Space station systems run continuously at different volumes and researchers are studying how the orbiting lab’s acoustic environment affects a crew member’s hearing.

NASA Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers worked on a pair of different studies on Friday, first looking at how blood flows from the brain to the heart then demonstrating the operation of an advanced biology microscope. Ayers began the day attaching sensors to her neck and chest measuring the volume of blood flowing back and forth. Scientists are using the data to test a tool that can check an astronaut’s cardiovascular health in different gravity environments. Next, Ayers treated samples of deep-sea bacteria that will be viewed inside a holographic, fluorescence imaging microscope. Known as the Extant Life Volumetric Imaging System, or ELVIS, the specialized 3D imaging device could be used to monitor water quality, detect potentially infectious organisms, and study liquid mixtures and microorganisms in space and on Earth.

NASA Flight Engineer Anne McClain spent her day on lab maintenance. She began her shift monitoring the airflow between the modules of the station’s U.S. segment ensuring the operability of the ventilation system. Next, she verified the functionality of computer tablets that will be used once the private crew of Axiom Mission-4 arrives at the station in June. At the end of her shift, McClain downloaded data collected from wearable radiation detectors, documented her meals for the day, and swapped drying agents inside a science freezer.

Before his vein scans, Ryzhikov, a three-time station resident, tested communication systems in the Zvezda service module then charged Soyuz spacecraft phone batteries. Zubritskiy inspected the Zarya module’s power supply system with an infrared camera as part of troubleshooting procedures. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov turned off ultraviolet atmospheric observation gear after an overnight imaging session then inventoried medical hardware in the station’s Roscosmos segment.

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 Works on Spacesuits, Life Support as Human Research Continues

Spacesuit and life support maintenance were the main focus on Thursday while the Expedition 73 still had time set aside for space biology research aboard the International Space Station.

NASA Flight Engineers Jonny Kim and Anne McClain partnered together throughout Thursday servicing a pair of spacesuits in the Quest airlock. The duo took turns scrubbing cooling loops, installing components that clean suits, and checking out the suits’ radio gear. The pair wrapped up the suit maintenance at the end of the day uninstalling the cleaning gear and stowing the equipment in Quest.

Before the spacesuit work, Kim began his day collecting his blood and urine samples for processing, cold stowage, and later analysis as part of the CIPHER suite of 14 human research investigations. Next, he took a cognition test, also a part of CIPHER, measuring his mental adaptation to living in space. McClain powered up the KERMIT fluorescence microscope and installed a test sample slide so ground controllers could remotely checkout the operations of the state-of-the-art imaging device.

NASA Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers spent her shift inside the Destiny laboratory module replacing and cleaning components on the oxygen generation system. She also swapped out an advanced hydrogen sensor being tested for its ability last longer than previous sensors in the oxygen generator.

Station Commander Takuya Onishi kicked off his day swabbing his body and stowing the samples in a science freezer for later analysis. Onishi then set up a 3D imaging microscope, also known as the Extant Life Volumetric Imaging System, or ELVIS, in the Kibo laboratory module to view samples of deep-sea bacteria. The advanced imaging device could be used to monitor water quality, detect potentially infectious organisms, and study liquid mixtures and microorganisms in space and on Earth.

Three-time space station visitor Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos worked on a pair of different experiments exploring physics and biology. He first synced up hardware that measures neutron radiation from sources such as solar flares and how it impacts crew members. Next, he attached sensors to his arm and hands and measured his blood pressure to understand how microgravity affects blood flow to the extremities.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritskiy wrapped up an Earth observation session stowing imaging hardware and downlinking photographs of landmarks across the Pacific Ocean. Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov spent his shift inside the Nauka science module replacing orbital plumbing gear and cleaning ventilation hardware.

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