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Station Busy with Sunday Spacewalk Preps and Biology, Botany Research

Two Expedition 65 astronauts are getting ready for a Sunday spacewalk to modify the International Space Station’s power system. Meanwhile, the orbiting lab is hosting a variety of biology and botany research today as two cosmonauts clean up following Thursday’s spacewalk.

International astronauts Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) are preparing for a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk on Sunday. They will set their U.S. spacesuits to battery power at 8:30 a.m. EDT, exit the station’s U.S. Quest airlock, then translate to the Port-4 (P4) truss structure to install a modification kit. This will ready the P4 for a new Roll-Out Solar Array set to be delivered on a SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission next year. NASA TV will begin its live spacewalk coverage at 7 a.m. on the NASA app and the agency’s website.

Hoshide and Pesquet still had plenty of time for microgravity research today as they gear up for Sunday’s excursion. The JAXA astronaut, who is on his third space mission, serviced mouse embryo samples in the Kibo laboratory module to learn how the space environment affects key phases of reproduction. ESA Flight Engineer Pesquet set up the Columbus laboratory module and explored how the human central nervous system adapts to weightlessness.

NASA Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur worked on two different space botany experiments today helping mission planners and doctors learn to sustain crews on longer space missions farther away from Earth. Kimbrough harvested plants growing on petri plates for the APEX-08 genetic expression study. McArthur cleaned up debris in the Kibo lab’s Plant Habitat that is growing Hatch Green chiles for the Plant Habitat-04 space crop experiment.

NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei replaced components inside the Combustion Integrated Rack then relocated a detection device that studies the radiation spectrum onboard the station. Vande Hei also partnered with Hoshide and Pesquet assisting the duo with their spacewalk preparations.

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov slept in Friday morning following their seven-hour and 25-minute spacewalk on Thursday to connect data and communication cables to Russia’s Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. The duo from Roscosmos then began disconnecting components on their Orlan spacesuits and stowing spacewalk gear in the orbiting lab’s Russian segment.

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Mark Garcia

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Cosmonauts Wrap Up Second Spacewalk to Set Up Science Module

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos concluded their spacewalk at 6:16 p.m. EDT after 7 hours and 25 minutes. It was the second of up to 11 spacewalks to prepare the new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for operations in space.

Novitskiy and Dubrov finished connecting television, rendezvous system and ethernet cables to the recently arrived Nauka module. They also installed handrails, jettisoned a cable reel, and installed a biology experiment on the Poisk module.

This was the 11th spacewalk this year and the 243rd overall in support of space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades. Spacewalkers have now spent a total of 63 days and 23 hours working outside the station.

It is the third spacewalk for both cosmonauts, both of whom have now spent a total of 22 hours and 38 minutes spacewalking.

In November 2020, the International Space Station surpassed its 20-year milestone of continuous human presence, providing opportunities for unique research and technological demonstrations that help prepare for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars and also improve life on Earth. In that time, 244 people from 19 countries have visited the orbiting laboratory that has hosted nearly 3,000 research investigations from researchers in 108 countries and areas.

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

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Mark Garcia

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Cosmonauts Start Spacewalk to Work on Science Module

Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos began a spacewalk to prepare the new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for operations in space when they opened the hatch of the Poisk docking compartment airlock of the International Space Station at 10:51 a.m. EDT.

Novitskiy, designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1), is wearing a Russian Orlan spacesuit with red stripes, and Dubrov is wearing a spacesuit with blue stripes as extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2).

Coverage of the spacewalk continues on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Views from a camera on Novitskiy’s helmet are designated with the number 22, and Dubrov’s is labeled with the number 20.

The duo’s primary tasks for today’s spacewalk are to continue connecting an ethernet cable and television and rendezvous system cables to the new module, install handrails to enable spacewalkers to maneuver more easily, and to install a biology experiment on the Poisk module.

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

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Mark Garcia

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NASA TV Begins Coverage of Russian Spacewalk to Outfit Science Module

NASA Television coverage of today’s spacewalk with cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos is now underway and is also available on the NASA app and the agency’s website.

The crew members of Expedition 65 are preparing to exit the International Space Station‘s Poisk module on the space-facing side of the station’s Russian segment for a spacewalk expected to begin at approximately 11:00 a.m. EDT that will last about six and a half hours.

It will be the second of up to 11 spacewalks to prepare the new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for operations in space. Watch a video animation preview of today’s spacewalk and planned activities at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfacX6864b4

During the spacewalk, the cosmonauts will perform tasks including installing handrails on Nauka and connecting power, ethernet, and data cables between the recently arrived module and the Zvezda service module. The pair is also scheduled to complete several tasks deferred from their Sept. 3 spacewalk.

Nauka launched on a Russian Proton-M rocket July 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and docked autonomously to the Earth-facing Zvezda port July 29.

This will be the third spacewalk for both Novitskiy and Dubrov; the 243rd spacewalk in support of space station assembly, maintenance and upgrades; and the 11th and spacewalk at the station in 2021.

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

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Mark Garcia

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Crew Readies for Thursday, Sunday Spacewalks as Science Rolls On

Two Expedition 65 cosmonauts are ready for their second spacewalk to continue outfitting Russia’s new science module on Thursday. Meanwhile, another spacewalk is due to take place on Sunday to modify the International Space Station’s power system.

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov wrapped up their spacewalk reviews and Orlan spacesuit checks just before lunchtime on Wednesday. The Russian duo is ready to begin Thursday’s spacewalk set to begin at 11 a.m. EDT when they open the hatch on the Poisk airlock to the vacuum of space. NASA TV will begin its live spacewalk coverage at 10:30 a.m. on the NASA app and the agency’s website.

They will spend about six-and-a-half hours continuing power and ethernet cable connections and installing handrails on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. The three-time spacewalkers will also complete tasks deferred from the Sept. 3 spacewalk including more ethernet cable connections, cable jettisoning and biology experiment installations.

Another spacewalk is scheduled to start Sunday at 8:30 a.m. to install a modification kit on the station’s Port-4 (P4) truss structure. Astronauts Akihiko Hoshide and Thomas Pesquet are preparing for that spacewalk to ready the P4 for the orbiting lab’s third Roll-Out Solar Array due to arrive on a SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission early next year. NASA TV will begin its live coverage at 7 a.m. as the experienced astronauts prepare to exit the U.S. Quest airlock in their U.S. spacesuits for a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk.

Meanwhile, science and maintenance continued on the orbiting lab with the crew finding time to work on human research, biology, and combustion. Pesquet from ESA (European Space Agency) studied how astronauts grip objects and move their limbs in microgravity while NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough fed rodents and cleaned their habitats during the morning.

Hoshide and NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei worked on a pair of different combustion studies today. Hoshide, the commander from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), removed combustion research hardware from the Kibo laboratory module‘s multipurpose small payload rack. Vande Hei replaced an igniter inside the Combustion Integrated Rack for the ACME series of space combustion studies.

NASA Flight Engineer Megan McArthur focused on orbital plumbing tasks and dismantling air resupply tanks during the morning. After lunch, she turned her attention to unpacking the Cargo Dragon vehicle then joining Vande Hei for a procedures review conference with Sunday’s spacewalkers Hoshide and Pesquet.

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Mark Garcia

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