Archivo de la etiqueta: spacestation

Axiom Mission 4 Launching On Dragon Soon Live on NASA+

NASA’s live coverage is underway on NASA+ for the launch of Axiom Mission 4, the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary will lift off at 2:31 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, June 25, aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA will end coverage approximately 15 minutes after launch, following orbital insertion. NASA will not provide a clean launch feed on its channels.

The spacecraft will dock autonomously to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module at approximately 7 a.m. on Thursday, June 26. NASA’s live rendezvous and docking coverage will begin at 5 a.m. on NASA+.

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 A. Garcia

Ax-4 “Go” For Wednesday Launch; Station Crew Keeps Up Research, Videography

Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) has been given the “go” to launch at 2:31 a.m. EDT on Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station. The four Ax-4 private astronauts will ride the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft to low Earth orbit and dock to the orbital outpost’s space-facing port on the Harmony module at 7 a.m. on Thursday for a two-week research mission.

Expedition 73 Flight Engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, both from NASA, will be on duty Thursday monitoring Dragon during its automated approach and rendezvous. Less than two hours after Dragon docks, the hatches will open and the Ax-4 crew will enter the space station including Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu. The Ax-4 private astronauts will greet the seven Expedition 73 crewmates, call down to Earth for welcoming remarks, then participate in a safety briefing with the station residents.

Back onboard the orbiting lab on Tuesday, the four astronauts and three cosmonauts stayed focused on a host of space research to advance pharmaceutical manufacturing and biotechnology. The crew members also continued their video and photography operations documenting life on the space station and imaging Earth landmarks.

Ayers kept up her dayslong scientific work in the Destiny laboratory module swapping syringes filled with protein samples and installing test cells in the Microgravity Science Glovebox. The fluid physics study is investigating using surface tension rather than a container to observe the behavior of proteins in a liquid. Results may inform pharmaceutical manufacturing techniques and 3D printing in microgravity.

Ayers also joined NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim and filmed a variety of activities the crew performs throughout its shift. The duo first recorded a tour of the Tranquility module, the cupola, and the Permanent Multipurpose Module. They also filmed how a crew starts its shift, safety procedures, and typical administrative duties. The videos will be downlinked to mission controllers to train future station crews.

McClain began her shift in the Columbus laboratory module and activated the Bio-Analyzer used for cellular and molecular analysis in weightlessness. Afterward, McClain tagged hardware throughout the station’s U.S. segment with radio frequency identification gear to ensure easier inventory tracking.

Station Commander Takuya Onishi from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) started his shift in the Kibo laboratory module removing and replacing electronics hardware that controls payloads. Next, he set up biomedical hardware that will be used on Wednesday to monitor and prevent space-caused fluid shifts in an astronaut’s body.

Cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy joined each other Tuesday and took turns wearing sensors and a blood pressure cuff measuring how blood flows from the largest vessels to the smallest vessels in microgravity. Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov wrapped up a session in the Zvezda service module photographing landmarks across the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. Next, Peskov transferred fluids from the station into the Progress 90 cargo craft then serviced ventilation systems inside 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.

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Mark A. Garcia

NASA Shares Axiom Mission 4 Launch Update

NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are targeting 2:31 a.m. EDT, Wednesday, June 25, for launch of the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 4.

The mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will travel to the orbiting laboratory on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after launching on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. The targeted docking time is approximately 7 a.m. Thursday, June 26. NASA will provide more details and its coverage information shortly.

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 A. Garcia

Week Starts with Pharma Research, Earth Observations, and Videography

A pharmaceutical study, Earth observations, and vision checks kicked off Monday’s research schedule aboard the International Space Station. The Expedition 73 crew also worked on housekeeping tasks and recorded training videos for future crews.

Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers continued her dayslong investigation into studying how proteins behave inside a fluid using surface tension to eliminate the effects of contacting solid walls. She processed the samples swapping syringes containing the proteins and installed a test cell inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox. Results may provide better models that predict the behavior of complex fluids benefitting pharmaceutical manufacturing and 3D printing on Earth and in space.

Regularly scheduled vision checks awaited Flight Engineers Jonny Kim of NASA and Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos at the beginning of their shift. The duo took turns reading characters off a standard eye chart found in a doctor’s office testing their clarity of vision and peripheral vision. Doctors constantly monitor the astronauts’ eyes and vision to counteract potential space-caused symptoms.

Afterward, Kim partnered together with station Commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and resumed filming training, or day-in-the-life, videos to familiarize future crews with space station operations and systems. They filmed and narrated activities inside the Quest airlock showing where spacesuits and spacewalking tools are stowed. The pair also filmed the location of safety hardware and configurations in the Harmony, Kibo, and Columbus modules.

Onishi also joined NASA Flight Engineer Anne McClain inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) and reorganized cargo. The pair moved items around the PMM creating more stowage space, documented lost or unknown items, and photographed the module’s layout for analysis by ground specialists.

Peskov spent his shift on video and photography duties first filming his crewmates going about their daily tasks including space research, lab maintenance, and exercise. Next, he pointed a camera out a window in the Zvezda service module and photographed landmarks such as Pacific islands and volcanos, the South China Sea region, and geological features across Australia.

Veteran cosmonaut and three-time station resident Sergey Ryzhikov worked throughout Monday servicing the Elektron oxygen generator and reorganizing stowage space and documenting inventory in the Zarya module. First time space-flyer Alexey Zubritskiy assisted Ryzhikov with the life support maintenance duties in Zvezda then replaced dust filters in the Roscosmos segment’s ventilation 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.

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Mark A. Garcia

Expedition 73 Wraps Week with Relaxation, Light Science, and Emergency Drill

Friday was mostly a light-duty day for the seven-member Expedition 73 crew aboard the International Space Station. However, the orbital residents did set aside some time at the end of the week for research, an emergency drill, and a conference with mission managers on the ground.

NASA flight engineers Anne McClain, Nichole Ayers, and Jonny Kim joined station Commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and wrapped up their shift with a pair of space-to-ground conferences. The quartet’s first conference was with the chief of NASA’s astronaut office followed by a second conference with their expedition’s flight director. The short bi-weekly conferences are held so the astronauts and mission managers can discuss a range of topics including upcoming missions and crew activities.

Earlier in the day, Ayers spent a few moments swapping syringes containing protein samples and installing test cells inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox. She was maintaining a fluid physics study exploring surface tension to contain liquids and observe proteins without contacting solid walls. Results may benefit pharmaceutical manufacturing and 3D printing techniques on and off the Earth.

Kim completed a 48-hour session wearing the sensor-packed Bio-Monitor vest and headband that continuously measured his health data as he worked, exercised, and slept. Doctors are testing the health-monitoring hardware for its comfort and reviewing the downlinked data that includes heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature. He also joined cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky to practice an emergency drill on station.

Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov worked a half-shift on Friday, servicing Earth observation gear that captures imagery of landmarks on the ground in a variety of wavelengths. Ryzhikov spent the second half of his day on electronics maintenance in the station’s Roscosmos segment.

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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Kelcie Nicole Howren