Archivo de la etiqueta: spacestation

Crew Relaxes, Rubio Breaks NASA Record as New Trio Preps for Launch

The seven Expedition 69 crew members enjoyed an off-duty day on Monday aboard the International Space Station. They will be welcoming three new crewmates at the end of the week when they launch and dock to the orbital outpost.

Three future station crew members are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan counting down to their lift off aboard the Soyuz MS-24 crew ship planned for 11:44 a.m. EDT on Friday. The trio, consisting of NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, will dock to the Rassvet module just over three hours later at 2:56 p.m. First time space-flyers O’Hara and Chub along with Kononenko, who is making a record fifth trip to the space station, will orbit Earth on the station for six months conducting advanced space research.

The current Expedition 69 crew is composed of two separate crews, one of which has been aboard the space station for nearly a year and the other which has been on the station since Aug. 27. The longest serving crew, with Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin and Frank Rubio, will depart at the end of the month after living in space for just over a year in space.

Rubio today has surpassed NASA’s single spaceflight record of 355 continuous days in space made by astronaut Mark Vande Hei on March 30, 2022. At 11 a.m. on Tuesday, NASA TV will broadcast a pre-recorded space-to-ground conversation Vande Hei had with Rubio on Sept. 5 when he congratulated the orbiting astronaut for his record-breaking mission.

The station’s newest crew is in its third week of a six-month-long space mission. The quartet consists of first-time space-flyers NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov, as well as two-time station visitors Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency). They will stay in space conducting a variety of microgravity science experiments benefitting humans living on and off the Earth until late February.

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

Week Ends with Microbiology, Spacesuits, and Lab Maintenance

Human research and spacesuit work topped the schedule for the Expedition 69 crew aboard the International Space Station at the end of the week. The orbital residents also analyzed microbes, maintained life support systems, and worked on cargo transfers.

Researchers on the ground continuously investigate how living in space affects astronauts to keep crews healthy. The crew members provide blood samples and other specimens during their mission for examination on the orbital outpost or in laboratories on the ground. They also attach a variety of sensors to themselves measuring their physiological reactions while either at rest, exercising, or even working. The data is downlinked real-time or later to help doctors understand how weightlessness affects their bodies.

Two astronauts, Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA and Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), took turns pedaling on an exercise cycle for a workout study in the Destiny laboratory module. The duo wore breathing gear and cardiac sensors for the investigation monitoring their aerobic fitness. Moghbeli later sequenced DNA from microbe samples collected from the potable water dispenser. Furukawa moved on and inventoried medical supplies inside the Human Research Facility.

Flight Engineer Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) wrapped up four days of an immunity study of Friday. He removed experiment hardware, stowed blood samples in a science freezer, and disconnected the Kubik research incubator. Mogensen was helping doctors learn how microgravity affects cellular immune functions and to monitor the human immune system in space.

NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio worked in the Quest airlock scrubbing cooling loops in a pair of U.S. spacesuits. After Rubio’s cooling loop work was completed, Moghbeli would take over and deconfigure the spacesuits then stow them in Quest.

In the Roscosmos segment of the orbiting lab, Commander Sergey Prokopyev serviced docking hardware, jogged on a treadmill for a fitness evaluation, then began packing items inside the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship. The two cosmonaut flight engineers, Dmitri Petelin and Konstantin Borisov, split their day between collecting station microbe samples for analysis, replacing life support hardware, and disposing trash and used hardware inside the Roscosmos Progress 84 cargo craft.

The space station is orbiting slightly higher after the Roscosmos Progress 85 cargo craft fired its engines for 21 minutes and 55 seconds Friday afternoon. The orbital reboost sets up the correct phasing for the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft docking on Sept. 15.

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

Crew Works Biology, Physics Research and Checks Out Spacesuits

Life science and space physics continued aboard the International Space Station on Thursday helping researchers improve human health and advance fundamental knowledge. The Expedition 69 crew members also worked on spacesuit maintenance and ongoing cargo activities.

Flight Engineers Andreas Mogensen and Satoshi Furukawa concentrated their research activities on space biology to learn how weightlessness affects human immunity and the aging process. Mogensen from ESA (European Space Agency) spent his third day this week processing blood samples and preparing them for incubation to understand how space affects an astronaut’s immune system. Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) sampled water from the Kibo laboratory module’s water recovery system, conducted a hearing test, them swapped out commercial research hardware.

NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio collected samples from the potable water dispenser and analyzed them to detect microbes and determine the quality of the water. Afterward, Rubio finalized the hardware replacement work inside the Cold Atom Lab preparing the quantum research device, that chills atoms to near absolute zero, for testing and operations.

NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli inventoried medical supplies inside the Human Research Facility and photographed the contents for review by specialists on the ground. Next, she checked out a spacesuit jet pack testing its components and performing leak checks. The jet pack, also called Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), is attached to spacesuits the astronauts wear during spacewalks. The SAFER provides controls allowing a spacewalker to return to the station in the unlikely event they became untethered from the orbiting lab.

Roscosmos Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin and Konstantin Borisov joined each other Thursday morning testing the lower body negative pressure suit that may help crew members readjust to Earth’s gravity environment. Petelin also collected water samples from an Orlan spacesuit cooling system for testing. Borisov partnered with Commander Sergey Prokopyev and installed docking hardware on the Zvezda service module’s aft port where the Roscosmos Progress 85 resupply ship is docked.

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

Biotech Research on Station Promoting Astronaut Health

The Expedition 69 crew aboard the International Space Station focused its main research activities on biotechnology on Wednesday. The orbital residents also continued the ongoing maintenance of lab hardware.

Researchers on the ground use the facilities aboard the space station to understand how living in weightlessness affects the human body. Some of the experiments operate remotely or autonomously, for others the astronauts set up and run the experiments, or even act as subjects as NASA and its international partners learn how to sustain crews on future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli began her day conducting DNA research by analyzing microbe samples collected from the orbital outpost’s potable water dispenser. She used a small commercial DNA sequencing device to identify the samples for the BioMole technology demonstration. BioMole may improve environmental monitoring systems on the station and future spacecraft traveling farther away from Earth.

Moghbeli then assisted JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa as he replaced components on the BioFabrication Facility (BFF). The 3D biological printer is testing printing organ-like tissues in microgravity with an eye to manufacturing whole human organs in space in the future.

Flight Engineer Andreas Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) continued his human research duties that he began on Tuesday. The two-time station visitor serviced blood samples that had been placed overnight in the Kubik research incubator then stowed the specimens in a science freezer for later analysis. Mogensen is helping doctors learn how microgravity affects cellular immune functions and to monitor the human immune system in space.

NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio continued his space physics activities for a second day as he replaced experiment gear inside the Cold Atom Lab. The research device chills atoms to near absolute zero creating almost no motion allowing scientists to study fundamental behaviors and quantum characteristics.

The station’s three cosmonauts turned their attention on Wednesday to the upkeep of hardware in the Roscosmos segment of the orbital lab. Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin spent the day replacing pumps and installing batteries on an Orlan spacesuit. Flight Engineer Konstantin Borisov videotaped himself becoming familiar with and exercising on the advanced resistive exercise device before checking out a laptop computer in the Nauka science 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.

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

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Mark Garcia

2023 Multilateral Coordination Board Joint Statement

The International Space Station Multilateral Coordination Board met Wednesday, Aug. 23, to review the operational status of the microgravity laboratory.

The board members welcomed the commitments by the United States, Japan, Canada, and member states of ESA (European Space Agency) to extend the International Space Station operations through 2030, as well as Russia’s commitment to extend operations through 2028. The members confirmed the readiness of the International Space Station partnership to continue working together to advance microgravity research on this unique orbiting laboratory and to ensure the safe operation of the space station.

During the meeting, the board underlined the role of the International Space Station in providing an environment to develop and test technologies and engineering solutions in support of long-term space exploration, as well as serving as a proving ground for an increase in the commercialization of low Earth orbit. The members also discussed respective plans and priorities for operations in low Earth orbit, including utilization goals and the importance of interoperability standards for enabling technical cooperation in space.

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