Archivo de la etiqueta: spacestation

STEMonstrations, Station Upkeep, and Hearing Assessments Top Wednesday’s Schedule

A STEMonstration, station upkeep, and routine hearing assessments kept the Expedition 70 crew busy on Wednesday. The seven orbital residents split up duties aboard the International Space Station as they continue their microgravity research missions into the new year.

NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli began her day recording a STEMonstration for teachers and students grades 5-8, demonstrating how to use a microscope for cell research aboard the station. To connect with students and teachers around the world, crew members will routinely record short three- to five-minute educational videos that demonstrate popular STEM topics in microgravity. Afterward, Moghbeli moved onto some station and spacesuit upkeep to install restraint straps and stowage bags on spacesuits that will be used for upcoming spacewalks this year, and perform inspections of various modules around the station.

Experiencing 16 sunrises and sunsets per day can affect crew members’ circadian rhythms while in low-Earth orbit. To counter this, the Circadian Light investigation tests a new lighting system to help astronauts maintain an acceptable circadian rhythm, which could in turn boost cognitive performance. ESA (European Space Agency) Commander Andreas Mogensen began his day performing a Circadian Light assessment before moving into surveying various station segments to send to grounds teams for assessments of station configuration.

JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa focused his day on prepping the Life Sciences Glovebox for upcoming research and measuring acoustic levels within the orbiting laboratory.

Near the end of the day, NASA Flight Engineer Loral O’Hara was joined by cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Konstantin Borisov to complete routine hearing assessments using specially designed space software to measure auditory function while exposed to the microgravity environment.

Kononenko also spent part of his day removing and replacing hardware in the Zvezda service module and running the 3D printer once more, while Borisov picked back up on inventory audits that began yesterday.

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 weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Abby Graf

Crew Members Kick-Start New Year with Ongoing Science and Maintenance

The seven-member Expedition 70 crew is back to work after Monday saw an off-duty day for the International Space Station residents. A variety of activities took place in orbit on Tuesday, while some members conducted cleaning activities and others picked back up on scientific research to kick-start the new year.

Flight Engineer Loral O’Hara of NASA spent part of her day unstowing materials in the Combustion Integrated Rack to prep for the SoFIE-GEL investigation. As part of ongoing science, crew members study burning in microgravity to determine how material flammability is affected by fuel temperatures. To continue this research, O’Hara swapped out a used manifold gas bottle in the experiment with a new one. In the evening, she donned the Actiwatch to monitor sleep-wake patterns throughout the night.

Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA cleaned up in the Harmony module in the morning, then set out to replenish the water supply in the distribution and recovery reservoirs of Plant Habitat-06—an investigation that studies the physiological and genetic responses to defense activation in wild-type tomatoes. Afterward, Moghbeli began an experiment to test the efficiency of an antimicrobial coating in space.

Commander Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) began the day swapping out the heart rate monitor on CEVIS, the station’s bicycle. He then completed a robotics training session, practicing the capture of a cargo craft, reviewing how to control free-flying assistants, and operating the robotic arm. After lunch, Mogensen deployed the Life Sciences Glovebox that will be used for ongoing science activities this week, then analyzed water from the station’s water processor assembly.

Meanwhile, Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) hydrated and incubated production packs for the BioNutrients-1 investigation which uses technology for on-demand production of human nutrients over long-duration missions.

The three cosmonauts aboard the orbiting laboratory—Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Konstantin Borisov—split up maintenance duties on Tuesday. Kononenko ran the 3D printer in Zvezda and audited cargo in the Prichal module, while Chub conducted maintenance on the water management system and Borisov inventoried accessories of the Roscosmos docking system.

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 weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Abby Graf

Two Spaceships Depart, Crew Will Spend Holidays in Space

Two spaceships in two days have departed the International Space Station and the Expedition 70 crew will spend Christmas and New Year’s Day orbiting Earth.

NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara monitored the Canadarm2 robotic arm release of the Cygnus space freighter on Friday, Dec. 22. Earlier, ground engineers remotely maneuvered the Canadarm2 and detached Cygnus from the Unity module where it had been installed since Aug. 4.

Packed inside Cygnus, along with disposable cargo, is the SAFFIRE-VI experiment that will be remotely activated aboard the spacecraft to explore fire safety. The space freighter from Northrop Grumman will orbit Earth on its own until early January for a safe, but fiery demise above the south Pacific Ocean.

The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft completed its cargo mission at 5:05 p.m. on Thursday when it automatically undocked from the Harmony module’s forward port. Dragon parachuted to splashdown off the coast of Florida on Dec. 22 returning station science and hardware for retrieval and analysis in laboratories on Earth.

Following Cygnus’ departure, O’Hara turned her attention to combustion research and replaced components for an experiment that is observing how fuel temperatures affect material flammability.

Astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Andreas Mogensen spent the first part of Friday on lab maintenance. Moghbeli from NASA serviced a U.S. spacesuit in the Quest airlock then swapped fiber optic samples inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox. Mogensen from ESA (European Space Agency) spent most of the day setting up ARED, the (Advanced Resistive Exercise device, for the ARED Kinematics study to improve workout programs for Earth and space. The duo met at the end of the day for eye exams using standard medical imaging gear found in an optometrist’s office on Earth.

Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) set up interactive studio gear inside the Kibo laboratory module in preparation for an event with Japanese audiences on Earth. In the afternoon, the two-time station resident inspected and photographed windows in the Kibo and Destiny lab modules for any contamination or damage.

Veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko began his day with cardiac research attaching sensors to himself measuring his heart activity in weightlessness. Flight Engineer Konstantin Borisov assisted Kononenko with the cardiac study then joined him in the afternoon for checkouts of audio and antenna gear in the Zvezda service module. Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub replaced smoke detectors in the Poisk module then activated a 3D printing experiment.

The seven astronauts and cosmonauts representing Expedition 70 will spend the final week of 2023 continuing ongoing research and lab upkeep. The orbital septet will also relax, open gifts, share a meal, and call down to their families on Christmas and New Year’s Day. The astronauts sent their thoughts and well wishes while in orbit this holiday season. The next space station blog post is planned to publish on Jan. 2, 2024.

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 weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

Robotic Arm Releases Cygnus from Station

At 8:06 a.m. EST, Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft was released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm which earlier detached Cygnus from the Earth-facing port of the International Space Station’s Unity module. At the time of release, the station was flying about 260 miles over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Cygnus spacecraft successfully departed the space station more than four months after arriving at the microgravity laboratory to deliver about 8,200 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo for NASA and its international partners.

Following a deorbit engine firing in early January, Cygnus will begin a planned destructive re-entry, in which the spacecraft – filled with trash packed by the station crew – will safely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Cygnus arrived at the space station Aug. 4, following a launch on Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. It was the company’s 19th commercial resupply services mission to the space station for NASA. Northrop Grumman named the spacecraft after the late NASA astronaut Laurel Clark.

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 weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

Dragon Undocks, Scientific Cargo Headed Back to Earth

Following commands from ground controllers at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, Dragon undocked at 5:05 p.m. EST from the forward port of the station’s Harmony module. At the time of undocking the station was flying at an altitude about 260 miles southwest of Chile.

After re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will make a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida on Friday, Dec. 22. NASA will not broadcast the splashdown, but updates will be posted on the agency’s space station blog.

Dragon arrived at the space station Nov. 11 as SpaceX’s 29th commercial resupply services mission for NASA, delivering about 6,500 pounds of research investigations, crew supplies, and station hardware. It was launched Nov. 9 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.

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 weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Abby Graf