Archivo de la etiqueta: spacestation

Station Reboost, Food Physiology, and Hearing Assessments for Crew Mid-Week

Three Expedition 69 crew members spent their day on the International Space Station performing work in the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, while other crew members completed a variety of Food Physiology experiments and hearing assessments.

NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi performed maintenance and prepped BEAM for a mid-day entry. The seven-year-old module is an expandable capsule attached to the station’s Tranquility module and allows an additional space for crews to work.

Bowen spent his morning temporarily stowing items and cleaning BEAM, while Alneyadi and Hoburg completed maintenance in tandem. Hoburg later collected atmospheric and surface microbe samples from BEAM for future analysis. Bowen then entered BEAM for inspection, and later, exited and stowed tools and materials. In addition, Alneyadi moved MATISS samples that investigate antibacterial properties of materials in space while Hoburg cleaned vents that monitor the station’s air quality.

NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio spent his day performing connection checks of data management systems and completing a round of sample collections for the Food Physiology investigation. Rubio also conducted a hearing test, regular assessments such as this measure hearing function while exposed to the environment of microgravity in long-duration spaceflight.

Cosmonaut Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin and Commander Sergey Prokopyev also conducted hearing assessments, while Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev performed station maintenance.

Following the July 4 holiday, the space station is orbiting slightly higher after the 83P fired its engines for 18 minutes and 52 seconds Tuesday afternoon. The orbital reboost sets up the correct phasing for the ISS Progress 85 resupply mission next month.

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: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Abby Graf

Crew Starts Week With Experiment Preps, Daily Exercise and System Maintenance

After a weekend off-duty, the Expedition 69 crew is kicking off their week with a variety of experiment preparations and system maintenance on the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen started his day removing HICARI-2 samples from the Gradient Heating Furnace (GHF) in the Japanese Experiment Module, Kibo. Hicari is an experiment led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to investigate high-quality crystal growth of semiconductors.

While Bowen separated Hicari samples for return, NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio refreshed internal computer systems on the station. The two then took turns exercising on the station’s Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization System (CEVIS) bicycle and the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED), which is a machine that simulates free weights for resistive exercise to help astronauts maintain bone and muscle strength in microgravity.

Rubio ended his day setting up hardware for the crew to collect saliva samples. The samples will be monitored and stored for future analysis on Earth to better understand crew health in space. Following Rubio’s earlier computer refresh, Bowen ended his day stowing items and hardware after the refresh was completed.

NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg performed EVA battery maintenance following his and Bowen’s spacewalk on June 15. United Arab Emirates (UAE) Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi prepped and turned on Astrobee, which are free-flying robots aboard the station that are used to assist astronauts with their daily duties. He also spent time surveying the Unity and Harmony modules for future hardware relocation. Hoburg and Alneyadi then took turns exercising on ARED and the station’s treadmill.

Cosmonaut Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin and Andrey Fedyaev worked in tandem to perform sampling of microflora while Commander Sergey Prokopyev performed maintenance in the Zvezda service 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: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Abby Graf

SpaceX Dragon Cargo Splashes Down, Returning Science to Earth

A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down at 10:30 a.m. EDT Friday, June 30, off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, marking the return of the company’s 28th contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. The spacecraft carried approximately 3,600 pounds of valuable scientific experiments and other cargo back to Earth.

Scientific hardware and samples returning on the mission include the GRIP – Dexterous Manipulation in Microgravity chair used in the ESA (European Space Agency)-sponsored neurology experiments GRIP and GRASP (Gravitational References for Sensimotor Performance: Reaching and Grasping). GRIP studies how microgravity affects the manipulation of objects, while GRASP provides further insight into how the central nervous system adapts to the microgravity environment. The experiments have been on the space station almost six years, and the final in-orbit tests were completed in early 2023.

Samples from BioNutrients-2, Monoclonal Antibodies, and Myotones investigations also are returning to Earth for scientific analysis.

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: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Abby Graf

SpaceX Dragon Cargo Spacecraft Departs from Station

Following commands from ground controllers at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, the company’s Dragon cargo spacecraft undocked at 12:30 p.m. EDT from the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module. At the time of undocking the station was flying at an altitude about 260 miles northeast of the Indian Ocean west of Indonesia.

After re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will make a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida on Friday, June 30. NASA will not broadcast the splashdown, but updates will be posted on the agency’s space station blog.

Dragon arrived at the station June 6 as SpaceX’s 28th Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA, delivering more than 7,000 pounds of research investigations, crew supplies, and station hardware, including two IROSAs, or International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays. The spacecraft was launched June 5 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Abby Graf

SpaceX Dragon Cargo Spacecraft Departing Station Live on NASA TV

Live coverage of the departure of a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station is underway on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app.

Following commands from ground controllers at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, Dragon will undock at 12:30 p.m. EDT from the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module and fire its thrusters to move a safe distance away from the station.

After re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will make a parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Florida about 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 30. NASA will not broadcast the splashdown, but updates will be posted on the agency’s space station blog.

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: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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

Powered by WPeMatico

Get The Details…

Abby Graf