Archivo de la etiqueta: iss

Household Chores, Space Research Wrap Up Station Workweek

Chores and science wrapped up the week for the Expedition 68 crew aboard the International Space Station.  The orbital residents will also see a resupply ship leave the orbital lab on Sunday.

NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio spent Friday afternoon rearranging cargo inside the Zarya module to maximize stowage space in the 24-year-old module. Hardware and other station cargo are constantly being moved around the station modules to support science experiments and maintenance activities. With cargo missions going back and forth at the station, it is necessary for the astronauts to keep track of where everything is and keep the gear neatly arranged for easy access.

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann spent her day on orbital plumbing tasks, analyzing water samples for microbes, and inspecting ammonia cartridges. Mann also spent some time on human research activities collecting her blood samples, participating in hearing and cognition tests, and configuring wrist-worn devices that monitor a crew member’s sleep-wake cycle, or circadian rhythm.

NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada worked throughout Friday on life support maintenance inside the Harmony and Tranquility modules. Cassada checked thermal control system components in both modules and collected fluid samples from the life support devices for analysis back on Earth. The first-time space flyer also participated in a standard hearing test.

Working in the Columbus laboratory module, Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) recirculated fluids and nourished vegetables growing for the XROOTS space botany study. The agricultural investigation explores hydroponic and aeroponic methods, soilless techniques, to grow crops in space to sustain crews farther away from Earth.

Two cosmonauts, Flight Engineers Anna Kikina and Dmitri Petelin, kicked off Friday morning with heart research. The duo attached electrodes to themselves to monitor their cardiac bioelectric activity and understand how microgravity affects their heart function. Kikina then spent the rest of the day on lab maintenance work. Petelin joined Commander Sergey Prokopyev and closed the hatch to the ISS Progress 80 cargo craft before its departure on Sunday ending an eight-month mission docked to the Poisk module.

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

Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

Powered by WPeMatico

Household Tasks, Human Research on Station Before Cargo Missions Ends

Household maintenance tasks were the main objective aboard the International Space Station on Thursday as the Expedition 68 crew members configured crew quarters and serviced the orbiting lab’s toilet. The station residents also had time during the day for human research activities, robotics training, and upcoming cargo mission preparations.

NASA Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Nicole Mann partnered together on Thursday afternoon testing power supply assemblies inside a pair crew quarters located in the Harmony module. The electrical devices were swapped between the two crew quarters to troubleshoot and recreate a fan failure signature.

Mann also gathered hardware and prepared the station’s new toilet so NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada could replace components inside the bathroom located in the Tranquility module. Rubio started his day charging spacesuit batteries and checking the power supply inside the Quest airlock.

Astronaut Koichi Wakata from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) strapped sensors to himself that measured his aerobic capacity during a workout session on an exercise cycle in the morning. Wakata also collected his urine samples and placed them in a science freezer for future analysis. The four-time station visitor later stowed research hardware completing a pair of similar experiments studying how the central nervous system adapts to weightlessness. The biology studies are helping doctors understand how the human body adapts to living and working in space on long-term missions.

Cosmonaut Anna Kikina of Roscosmos spent Thursday continuing to train on the European robotic arm. She practiced operating and controlling the robotic manipulator from inside the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Heart research was also on the agenda as Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin attached electrodes to themselves and measured their cardiac bioelectric activity while resting.

The ISS Progress 80 resupply ship is due to end its cargo mission this weekend when it undocks from the Poisk module on Sunday at 6:46 p.m. EDT. Prokopyev packed trash and obsolete gear inside the Progress 80 for disposal on Thursday afternoon. The cargo craft will reenter Earth’s atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean for a fiery, but safe destruction about three-and-a-half hours later.

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

Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

Powered by WPeMatico

Brain Studies on Station Help Astronauts Adjust to Space and Earth

A pair of brain studies were on the research schedule aboard the International Space Station today to learn how the central nervous system adapts to weightlessness. The Expedition 68 crew also worked on variety of household tasks throughout Wednesday including orbital plumbing and electronics system repairs.

NASA Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada worked on two different experiments investigating separate facets of the human brain and how it adjusts to microgravity. During the morning, Mann attached sensors to herself and measured her arterial blood pressure and blood flow velocity. Results may provide insights into how the brain regulates its blood supply and possibly counteract blood pressure drops astronauts may experience after returning to Earth. Cassada wore a virtual reality headset for the GRASP study exploring how the central nervous system reacts to different stimuli without the traditional up-and-down reference humans are familiar with on Earth.

Mann later joined NASA astronaut Frank Rubio during the afternoon configuring and inspecting a new toilet system in the Tranquility module. Japanese Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata worked in the U.S. Quest airlock swapping electronics components and checking cable connections inside an avionics rack. Wakata and Rubio earlier started their day together collecting their blood samples, spinning them in a centrifuge, and stowing them in a science freezer for later analysis.

The orbiting lab’s three cosmonauts also focused on their complement of advanced space research and station maintenance during the day. First-time Flight Engineers Anna Kikina and Dmitri Petelin took turns exploring how to use ultrasound sensors to assist with targeting and photographing landmarks on Earth. Kikina also cleaned the ventilation system inside the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module while Petelin worked pressurization and water transfer tasks inside the ISS Progress 80 cargo craft. Commander Sergey Prokopyev inspected windows in the Zvezda service module before checking hatch and docking components on the Progress 80 resupply vehicle.

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

Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

Powered by WPeMatico

NASA is GO for U.S. Spacewalks Outside International Space Station

NASA completed a flight readiness review in October, and is “GO” to resume routine spacewalks outside of the International Space Station. The first of three planned spacewalks is targeted to begin around mid-November to continue the work to install roll out solar arrays, called iROSA.

The review marks the completion of an investigation into the cause of a thin layer of moisture being discovered in March inside ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer’s helmet after station airlock re-pressurization following a nearly seven-hour spacewalk. Mauer was conducting a spacewalk focused on preparation of new solar array installation outside the microgravity laboratory.

Following the successful spacewalk, the space station crew expedited Maurer’s helmet removal and then gathered data in coordination with ground support teams at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The agency identified the event as a close-call and immediately declared a stop to all future planned U.S. Operating Segment spacewalks pending an investigation into the cause. NASA returned to Earth water samples and some suit hardware with Soyuz 65S and NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission, as well as returned the spacesuit as part of the agency’s SpaceX CRS-25 mission for detailed analysis.

During the investigation, the space station team completed a detailed test, teardown, and evaluation of the water samples and suit hardware to determine what led to the observed water, which was more than normal, in the helmet.

The team confirmed there were no hardware failures within the suit. The cause for the water in the helmet was likely due to integrated system performance where several variables such as crew exertion and crew cooling settings led to the generation of comparatively larger than normal amounts of condensation within the system.

Based on the findings, the team has updated operational procedures and developed new mitigation hardware to minimize scenarios where integrated performance results in water accumulation, while absorbing any water that does appear. These measures will help contain any liquid in the helmet to continue to keep crew safe.

“Crew safety is the top priority of NASA and our international partners,” said Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate. “I’m proud of the space station and ground teams’ work to keep our crew members safe, for taking the time necessary to close out the investigation, and for continually findings ways to mitigate risks in human spaceflight.”

Based on the results of the investigation, the additional operational procedures, and mitigation hardware, the NASA management team concurred and approved return to normal operations.

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

Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

Powered by WPeMatico

Muscle and Crop Studies Helping Crews Adapt to Space Missions

Today aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition 68 crew explored how to maintain healthy bodies and grow crops in the weightless environment of space. Learning to live long-term in microgravity and farther away from Earth orbit requires astronauts to sustain themselves without relying on visiting resupply missions.

Humans lose muscle and bone mass much faster in space than on Earth due to the lack of gravity bearing down on them. However, the space station crew members work out two hours every day on a treadmill, an exercise cycle, and a resistive device, to offset and counteract the effects microgravity. One experiment called Myotones, worked on today by U.S. and Japanese Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Koichi Wakata, tracks how a crew member’s muscles adapt to space. The duo took turns marking their neck, back, leg and arm muscles, while inside the Columbus laboratory module. Afterward, the pair used the specialized Myotones device to measure the biochemical properties of the same muscles, including muscle tone, stiffness, and elasticity.

Mann then went on and partnered with fellow NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada strapping sensors to each other and pedaling on the U.S. Destiny laboratory module’s exercise bike to measure their aerobic capacity on orbit. Frank Rubio, also a NASA flight engineer, mixed a nutrient solution to nourish vegetables growing inside the Columbus lab for the XROOTS study. The space botany study investigates using hydronic and aeroponic methods to grow crops on spacecraft and space habitats so astronauts can feed themselves in low-Earth orbit and beyond.

Roscosmos Flight Engineer Anna Kikina studied advanced Earth photography techniques that use ultrasound sensors to help target landmarks on the ground. Her fellow cosmonauts, Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin, are preparing for a new cargo mission due to launch from Kazakhstan at the end of the month. The duo tested the station’s TORU, or telerobotically operated rendezvous unit, that would be used to manually control an approaching spacecraft in the unlikely event it was unable to automatically approach and dock on its own.

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

Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

Powered by WPeMatico