Progress Resupply Undocks From Station, Ends Cargo Mission
Feb. 17, 2023: International Space Station Configuration. Four spaceships are parked at the space station including the Cygnus space freighter, the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance, and Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 crew ship and the Progress 83 resupply ship.
The uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 82 cargo spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station’s Poisk module at 9:26 p.m. EST on Fri., Feb. 17.
Following undocking, Expedition 68 cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin sent commands from the station’s Roscosmos segment to rotate the Progress for additional visual inspections of the general area where a coolant loop leak occurred on Feb. 11. Loaded with trash, Progress is being deorbited by Roscosmos flight controllers over the Pacific Ocean after spending four months at the station.
Cargo Craft Ops and Human Research Wrap Up Crew Week
Astronaut Josh Cassada is seated in a specialized chair for an experiment that investigates how astronauts grip and move their arms when manipulating objects in microgravity.
The uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 82 cargo spacecraft is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station’s Poisk module at 9:26 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 17.
Following undocking, Expedition 68 cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin will send commands from the station’s Roscosmos segment to rotate the Progress for additional visual inspections and documentation of the general area where a coolant leak was discovered on Feb. 11. Loaded with trash, Progress will be deorbited by Roscosmos flight controllers over the Pacific Ocean after spending four months at the space station.
Meanwhile, the crew members continued a space adaptation study today while conducting a multitude of maintenance tasks aboard the orbital outpost today. The station residents also worked on more human research, watered plants, and cargo transfers.
Due to the lack of an up-and-down reference in weightlessness researchers are investigating how an astronaut’s eye-hand coordination reacts to audible and visual stimuli. Flight Engineers Josh Cassada of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) once again subjected themselves to the human research investigation taking place inside the Columbus laboratory module. The pair took turns strapping themselves in a specialized chair, wearing a virtual reality headset, and performing computerized tasks to test their reach and grasp functions. Observations may help doctors understand how the brain adjusts to microgravity and treat balance disorders on Earth.
NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Frank Rubio focused their day mainly on lab maintenance and exercise activities. Mann began her day with orbital plumbing duties in Tranquility module, before watering tomato plants in Veggie space botany facility, and finally reorganizing cargo space in the Harmony module. Rubio cleaned windows in the cupola, the station’s “window to the world,” then checked out portable breathing gear that measures an astronaut’s aerobic capacity when pedaling on the station’s exercise cycle.
Cosmonauts Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Anna Kikina trained to use the lower body negative pressure suit and tested its ability to offset the effects of microgravity on the human body. The Roscosmos duo also worked on water transfers and cargo operations inside the ISS Progress 83 resupply ship. Petelin replaced life support components inside the Zvezda service module then studied on a computer how future pilots might control a spacecraft or a robot on planetary missions.
Astronaut Josh Cassada plays with a sphere of water flying in microgravity, dyed with green food coloring and bubbling due to an antacid that was placed inside.
A multitude of advanced microgravity research benefitting humans and robotics took precedence aboard the International Space Station on Thursday.
Two Expedition 68 astronauts investigated how living in space affects the way a crew member reaches for and grasps objects. NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada has been working in the Columbus laboratory module all week exploring how spaceflight impacts the central nervous system. He first studied how astronauts regulate their grip force. Then on Thursday, Cassada explored how an astronaut’s eye-hand coordination is impacted by visual and audible signals in weightlessness.
Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) joined Cassada inside the Columbus module for the space adaptation study. Both astronauts took turns seated in a specialized chair, wearing a virtual reality headset and responded to virtual stimuli on a computer. Observations may inform scientists how the human brain adjusts to microgravity and help treat balance and orientation conditions humans may experience on Earth.
Blood pressure and breathing in weightlessness are also key research objectives as scientists learn to counteract the risks of living in space and prepare astronauts for the differing gravity environments of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. NASA Flight Engineer Nicole Mann, with assistance from NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio, worked on a study combining both research areas on Thursday while wearing a headband and garment packed with sensors and pedaling on exercise bike. The Cardiobreath investigation involves measuring an astronaut’s exercise output and may help improve medical support for crews in space and humans on Earth.
Mann and Cassada later participated in vein scans using the Ultrasound 2 device imaging each other’s neck, shoulder, and leg veins. Rubio turned on an Astrobee robotic helper and installed an acoustic monitor on the device and collected station sound level readings during the afternoon.
Commander Sergey Prokopyev joined Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin and reviewed procedures for the upcoming automated undocking of the ISS Progress 82 cargo craft. Flight Engineer Anna Kikina started her day working on electronics maintenance then performed a fitness evaluation on the Zvezda service module’s treadmill while attached to sensors.
International Space Station Configuration. Five spaceships are parked at the space station including the Cygnus space freighter, the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance, and Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 crew ship and the Progress 82 and 83 resupply ships.
Engineers at the Roscosmos Mission Control Center continue to evaluate a coolant leak from its Progress 82 cargo spacecraft identified on Feb. 11. The cargo spacecraft has been docked to the station’s Poisk module since October 2022. NASA has been assisting Roscosmos in collecting imagery of the Progress 82 using the Canadarm-2.
The launch date of the uncrewed Soyuz MS-23 replacement spacecraft to the International Space Station is under review. The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft was slated to launch to the International Space Station on Sunday, Feb. 19, to replace the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft after it suffered its own external coolant loop leak in December. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin arrived at the space station aboard MS-22 in October, and are now scheduled to return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft later this year.
Roscosmos engineers continue to investigate the cause of coolant loss from both the Progress 82 spacecraft and the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft. The crew is continuing with normal space station operations and scientific research.
The seven residents that make up the Expedition 68 crew were busy midweek aboard the space station. The orbital septet worked its way through a host of space science, cargo operations, and lab maintenance.
The station scientists on Wednesday explored a wide range of microgravity’s effects on humans and physics to understand the long-term implications of living and working in space. NASA and its international partners continue planning missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, that will require astronauts to sustain themselves with less support from flight controllers and visiting cargo missions.
NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada strapped himself to a specialized device and laid down inside the Columbus laboratory module on Wednesday. He then manipulated a controller in response to pre-programmed stimuli as a computer and video cameras recorded his responses. Researchers will use the data to understand how astronauts regulate their grip force and move their arms when manipulating objects in microgravity.
Cassada also took turns throughout Wednesday with fellow flight engineers Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for a periodic health exam. The trio worked in the Destiny laboratory module measuring the vital signs including temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory rate. The data was recorded into a computer tablet using wearable sensors then downloaded to doctors on Earth. Wakata also continued packing the Cygnus space freighter with trash and obsolete hardware ahead its eventual departure.
Rubio replaced hardware components and experiment samples inside the Combustion Integrated Rack for a space fire investigation. That study explores fuel temperatures in microgravity and how it affects materials flammability. Results may inform advanced fire suppression techniques for space missions as well as Earth-bound facilities.
The orbital outpost’s three cosmonauts kept up their contingent of research operations and maintenance activities as well. Prokopyev explored piloting techniques a future crew member might use to control a spacecraft or a robot on planetary missions. Petelin studied how to maintain sterile conditions in space during biological research and explored how international crews and mission controllers can communication better. Finally, Flight Engineer Anna Kikina focused her day on electronics and battery maintenance before configuring a student-controlled Earth observation camera.
Crew Works Bio-Printer, Ultra-High Res Camera and Cargo Ops
An orbital sunrise illuminates Earth’s atmosphere and reveals the cloud tops in this photograph from the space station above southern Brazil.
The Expedition 68 crew members serviced a variety of advanced space hardware today and conducted cargo operations inside a trio of docked space freighters. Four astronauts aboard the International Space Station also called down to Earth preparing for the next crew swap mission from SpaceX.
A 3-D bio-printer and an ultra-high resolution video camera were the top science priorities aboard the orbital outpost on Tuesday. NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada continued testing the performance of the BioFabrication Facility inside the Columbus laboratory module. The research device seeks to take advantage of the microgravity environment and demonstrate printing organ-like tissues in space which may lead to the future manufacturing of human organs.
NASA Flight Engineer Nicole Mann set up the SphereCAM-1 inside the cupola, the space station’s “window to the world,” and then the Tranquility module to record Earth views and crew activities on Tuesday. The ultra-high resolution video camera is demonstrating its ability to provide groundbreaking views of Earth, space, and spacecraft hardware for both audiences on Earth and space industry professionals.
Mann also joined astronauts Frank Rubio of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) packing the Cygnus resupply ship for its eventual departure. The trio took turns loading trash and discarded gear inside Cygnus which has been berthed to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port since Nov. 9, 2022.
All four astronauts also joined each other after lunch time and called down to their replacements ahead of an upcoming crew swap. The station quartet launched to the orbital lab as the SpaceX Crew-5 mission aboard the Dragon Endurance on Oct. 5, 2022. The new Crew-6 astronauts, who are in Houston today, are Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Warren “Woody” Hoburg of NASA, and Mission Specialists Sultan Alneyadi from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and Andrey Fedyaev from Roscosmos. The Crew-6 mission will launch aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour from Florida no earlier than Feb. 26 and swap places with the Crew-5 astronauts.
Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Anna Kikina partnered together on Tuesday morning unpacking some of the nearly three tons of food, fuel, and supplies delivered Saturday inside the ISS Progress 83 resupply ship. The duo then split up in the afternoon working on various electronics maintenance and scientific tasks. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin refilled station water tanks with water stowed inside the ISS Progress 82 cargo craft then photographed operations during a space biology experiment.
