Archivo de la etiqueta: spacestation

Week Wraps with Dragon Preps and Life Science

Four Expedition 72 crew members are preparing take a short ride to a different International Space Station port this weekend to make way for an upcoming cargo mission. In the meantime, the orbital residents wrapped up the workweek with life science experiments and lab maintenance.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov reviewed procedures on Friday for the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft’s relocation maneuver scheduled to begin at 6:35 a.m. EST on Sunday when they undock from the Harmony module’s forward port. They will be joined inside Freedom by station Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, both NASA astronauts, as they redock to Harmony’s space-facing port at 7:18 a.m. Hague and Gorbunov launched as SpaceX Crew-9 members to the orbital outpost on Sept. 28 aboard Dragon Freedom. However, they will return to Earth in February next year bringing home Williams and Wilmore.

Harmony’s vacated forward port will await the arrival of the next Dragon cargo mission set to launch at 9:29 p.m. on Monday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Dragon will dock to Harmony at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday delivering nearly 6,000 pounds of new science experiments and station supplies. Hague and Wilmore will be on duty monitoring Dragon’s arrival

NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit joined the four Dragon crewmates at the end of Friday’s shift and called down to mission controllers to discuss Sunday’s Dragon relocation. Pettit will be on duty Sunday inside the space station monitoring Dragon as it completes its automated relocation maneuver.

Pettit earlier joined Hague drawing their blood samples, spinning them in a centrifuge, then stowing the specimens in a science freezer for preservation and later analysis. Pettit later removed components from the Cell Biology Experiment Facility preparing the research device for new experiments being delivered aboard the next Dragon cargo mission. Hague spent the rest of Friday reviewing procedures to command Dragon during Sunday’s relocation maneuver.

Williams and Wilmore started their Friday shift on orbital maintenance. Williams replaced filters on the Tranquility module’s water recycling system as Wilmore installed an instrumentation box on the advanced resistive exercise device. The duo later trained for the two upcoming Dragon missions rounding out the day.

In the Roscosmos segment of the orbiting lab, Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner assisted Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin with maintenance activities in the aft end of the Zvezda service module. Earlier, Ovchinin explored spacecraft and robotic piloting techniques future crew members might use on planetary missions. Gorbunov started his day closing operations for an experiment that images Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths before joining Hague for Dragon relocation procedure reviews.

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 Garcia

Crew Preps for Dragon Missions While Staying Busy with Space Research

The Expedition 72 crew is getting ready for a pair of missions next week to relocate a Dragon spacecraft to a new port then receive a new Dragon cargo delivery. The seven International Space Station residents also continued a host of space biology studies while maintaining the upkeep of the orbital lab on Thursday.

NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague will command the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft this weekend taking NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on a short ride to a new port. The quartet will undock from the Harmony module’s forward port at 6:35 a.m. EST on Sunday inside Freedom then relocate to Harmony’s adjacent space-facing port at 7:18 a.m.

The relocation maneuver opens up Harmony’s forward port for the next Dragon cargo mission due to launch at 9:29 p.m. on Monday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Dragon, carrying nearly 6,000 pounds of new science experiments and crew supplies, will arrive at the orbital outpost for an automated docking to Harmony’s forward port at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday. Hague, Williams, and Wilmore joined NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and called down to mission controllers on Thursday and discussed the upcoming cargo operations. Hague and Wilmore also will be on duty Tuesday morning monitoring Dragon’s approach and docking.

The NASA quartet along with the three Roscosmos cosmonauts aboard the orbital outpost still kept up their critical research responsibilities informing ways to continuously improve human health of space crews and humans on Earth.

Hague began his day exploring the cardiovascular risk of living in space by attaching electrodes to his chest, scanning his arteries with an ultrasound device, then measuring his blood pressure. Pettit attached filters to a unique incubator located in the Kibo laboratory module that can generate artificial gravity. Afterward, Pettit imaged Hague’s retina, cornea, and optic nerve using standard medical imaging gear found in a doctor’s office.

Expedition 72 Commander Williams removed components from inside the Spectrum biology imaging device that captures fluorescent imagery of biological samples to track space-caused physiological changes. Station Flight Engineer Wilmore opened up BEAM, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, and entered the cargo stowage module replacing particle filters and swabbed surfaces to collect potential microbe samples for analysis.

Roscosmos Flight Engineers Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner continued their weeklong maintenance and inspection tasks in the aft end of the Zvezda service module. The duo also took turns attaching electrodes to themselves recording their heart activity and measuring their blood pressure. Flight Engineer Aleksandr swapped out a lens on a student-controlled Earth observation camera then serviced gas supply valves for the Plasma Kristall-4 space physics investigation.

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 Garcia

Station Crew Gets Ready for Dragon Relocation and Cargo Missions

The Expedition 72 crew is getting ready for a port relocation maneuver this weekend as a new cargo mission counts down to a lift off next week to resupply the International Space Station. Meanwhile, stem cell research, a spacesuit check, and a host of lab maintenance kept the astronauts and cosmonauts busy on Wednesday.

NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague will command the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft when it undocks from the Harmony module’s forward port at 6:35 a.m. EST on Sunday. He, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will take a short ride in Freedom and redock to Harmony’s space-facing port at 7:18 a.m. The port relocation maneuver opens up Harmony’s forward port for the upcoming Dragon cargo mission.

Hague and Wilmore took turns on Wednesday preparing for the Dragon cargo mission arriving soon after Sunday’s Dragon Freedom relocation. The duo trained on cargo operations then reviewed rendezvous procedures and monitoring tools for the approaching SpaceX Dragon cargo craft. Hague also downloaded his health data collected from electrodes and the Ultrasound 2 device for analysis by researchers.

Science and maintenance rounded out the schedule on Wednesday as Commander Suni Williams serviced stem cells and checked out a spacesuit. She worked with Wilmore inside the Kibo laboratory module inserting stem cell samples into a microscope to image for a blood disease and cancer study. Following that, Williams entered the Quest airlock and resized and configured a spacesuit ahead of spacewalks planned for 2025.

NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit, on his fourth spaceflight, spent his morning removing the small satellite deployer from Kibo’s airlock that had earlier deployed several CubeSats into Earth orbit for a series of technology studies. Afterward, Pettit worked on orbital plumbing tasks flushing resupply tanks and transferring water to life support components.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner continued maintenance and inspection activities in the aft end of the Zvezda service module. Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov completed an experiment run and deactivated hardware that imaged the Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths.

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 Garcia

Eye Health, Cargo Packing Ahead of Dragon Relocation

Protecting eyesight to keep crews healthy and packing cargo for an upcoming mission were the main tasks for the Expedition 72 crew aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday.

Body fluids behave differently in weightlessness resulting in an upward flow toward an astronaut’s head. This condition creates pressure on a crew member’s eyes causing changes in eye structure and vision. Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore, both NASA astronauts, tested a specialized thigh cuff throughout the day that may prevent the headward fluid shifts. Researchers are monitoring these fluid shifts to learn how to safeguard eye health as NASA and its international partners plan longer missions farther out into space.

Back on Earth, the next resupply mission to the orbital outpost is getting ready for launch next week aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. NASA Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Nick Hague geared up on Tuesday for the arrival of Dragon and its shipment of new science experiments and station hardware. Pettit began packing and staging cargo that will be stowed inside Dragon after its arrival then returned to Earth for retrieval. Hague trained to use the tools that will monitor the automated approach and rendezvous of Dragon.

However, before the cargo mission blasts off toward the space station, Hague will lead Williams, Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on a short ride aboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft to a new docking port. The quartet will board Dragon on Sunday, Nov. 3, undock from the Harmony module’s forward port at 6:35 a.m. EDT, then maneuver the spacecraft to Harmony’s space-facing port for a docking at 7:18 a.m. The relocation opens up the forward port for the Dragon cargo mission.

After a training session at the beginning of his shift on the Destiny laboratory module’s exercise cycle, Gorbunov installed and activated hardware to observe Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths. His fellow cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner partnered together on maintenance and inspection duties in the aft end of the Zvezda service module.

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 Garcia

Space Biology, Ultra-High-Res Camera Start Work Week on Station

Space biology and an ultra-high-resolution camera demonstration topped the research schedule aboard the International Space Station at the beginning of the week. Spacesuit checks, cargo transfers, and lab maintenance tasks rounded out the day for the Expedition 72 crew.

New science experiments are due to be launched to the orbiting lab soon aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. One of those experiments seeks to overcome space-caused immune dysfunction as well as prevent aging conditions on Earth. NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit began configuring research hardware in the Kibo laboratory module on Monday to accommodate the upcoming investigation. Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore and Commander Suni Williams, both NASA astronauts, assisted Pettit setting up components inside Kibo to house the study’s biological samples.

Wilmore went on and tested the Sphere Camera-2 for its ability to capture live action, ultra-high-resolution imagery in microgravity. The footage and hardware will be returned to Earth to evaluate the space-hardened camera and a newer version for their potential to capture future planetary and mission photography. Williams swapped desiccants that absorb moisture inside a variety of science freezers ensuring the preservation of samples. The duo then joined each other at the end of the day for a conference with mission controllers on the ground.

NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague began his shift with cargo duties inside the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft. Next, the two-time station visitor wore the Canadian Space Agency’s Bio-Monitor vest and headband filled with sensors to record his health data as he worked throughout the rest of the day. Afterward, Hague serviced life support hardware and other components on a spacesuit inside the Quest airlock.

Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, on his third station mission, worked in the Progress 89 cargo craft installing air ducts and transferring fluids to and from the Zvezda service module. Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov jogged on the Tranquility module’s treadmill after an equipment training session from Williams. Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner spent his day on inspection activities inside the aft end of Zvezda.

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: www.nasa.gov/subscribe

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Mark Garcia