Archivo de la etiqueta: spacestation

Space Gardening, Digestion, and Robotics Top Crew Schedule

Space gardening and the human digestive system were at the top of the science schedule aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The seven Expedition 67 residents also worked throughout the day filming their activities, inspecting station hardware, and testing a new robotic arm.

Space agriculture is a way to sustain healthy astronauts on future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond without relying on packed cargo missions traveling farther in space. The XROOTS experiment on the orbiting lab is exploring growing radishes and mizuna greens using hydroponic and aeroponic techniques. NASA Flight Engineer Bob Hines nourished those plants today and checked seed cartridges and wicks to ensure they germinate and grow.

Hines also inspected and photographed the condition of windows in the Destiny laboratory and the Kibo laboratory modules. NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren continued testing a headset that enables 3-D high definition holograms in real-time for immersive and innovative communication and research techniques. He also swapped hard drives on a station laptop computer.

Flight Engineers Jessica Watkins and Samantha Cristoforetti joined each other today inspecting and cleaning hatch components on the U.S. modules. Watkins also audited, inspected, and stowed hardware in the Tranquility module and the Quest airlock. Cristoforetti checked smoke detectors in the Columbus laboratory module and tested a specialized garment that can monitor an astronaut’s health wirelessly.

All four astronauts have also been filming their activities this week to prepare future crews training for upcoming station missions. The quartet have been recording, narrating, and downlinking videos documenting the operation of exercise equipment, network communications gear, and cargo stowage aboard the space station.

The lack of gravity affects the human body in a multitude of ways. Scientists observe station crew members during long-term missions to understand and counteract the undesired effects of weightlessness. Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev once again scanned their digestive system using an ultrasound device after breakfast. Researchers are exploring how organs and vessels in the gastrointestinal tract adapt to spaceflight.

Robotics testing is still ongoing this week in the station’s Russian segment. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov continued checking out and filming the European robotic arm, the station’s third and newest robotic manipulator, and its ability to maneuver on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.

NASA and Northrop Grumman are continuing to work on a plan for Cygnus to try another reboost attempt as early as Saturday, June 25, that would lead to Cygnus potentially departing the station next Tuesday, June 28. The plan is being discussed with the International Space Station partners this week and a forward plan is expected as early as Thursday.

The reboost is designed to provide Cygnus with an enhanced capability for station operations as a standard service for NASA.

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Mark Garcia

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Crew Works Biomedical Science and Hologram, Robotics Tech

A host of biomedical studies filled the Expedition 67 crew’s day as NASA and its international partners continue exploring how living in space long-term affects the human body. The residents aboard the International Space Station also set up a 3-D hologram device and tested a new robotic arm.

The orbiting lab’s four astronauts took turns scanning each other’s veins with the Ultrasound 2 device on Tuesday morning. NASA Flight Engineers Jessica Watkins, Bob Hines, and Kjell Lindgren joined ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti and scanned their neck, shoulder, and leg veins during the morning with researchers on the ground monitoring the data in real-time. Doctors on Earth gain insight into how an astronaut’s cardiac, vessel, and muscle systems adjust to weightlessness.

Hines and Cristoforetti also spun blood samples in the Human Research Facility’s centrifuge before stowing them in a science freezer for later analysis. Watkins spent the rest of her day inspecting U.S. module hatch components and auditing hardware inside the station’s pantry. Cristoforetti worked on orbital plumbing tasks before reorganizing cargo to create more space aboard the space station.

Lindgren charged and configured a headset that enables 3-D high definition holograms in real-time for immersive and innovative communication and research techniques. Afterward, he launched a computer application beginning a session to demonstrate ways holoportation can be used for teleconferences and telemedicine, as well as assisting crew members with complex procedures in space.

Station Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev partnered together for ultrasound scans of their digestive system after breakfast. Researchers are investigating how organs and vessels in the gastrointestinal tract adapt to microgravity. Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov worked inside the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module testing the operation and mobility of the new European robotic arm.

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Mark Garcia

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Cygnus Reboost Aborted, Next Steps Being Planned

On Monday at 10:20 a.m. Central time, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus NG CRS-17 engine was scheduled to fire for 5 minutes, 1 second to test the cargo craft’s ability to reboost the International Space Station in the future. The engine firing was aborted after five seconds. Cygnus’ Mission Director at Dulles, Virginia reported that the cause for the abort is understood and under review.

Late this afternoon in their evening planning conference with flight controllers in Houston, the crew was informed that NASA and Northrop Grumman are working on a plan for Cygnus to try another reboost attempt as early as Saturday, June 25  that would lead to Cygnus potentially departing the station next Tuesday, June 28. The plan will be discussed with the International Space Station partners later this week.

The reboost is designed to provide Cygnus with an enhanced capability for station operations as a standard service for NASA.

Editor’s Note: A portion of this blog was updated on June 20, 2022 at 4:22 p.m. EDT to reflect a second reboost attempt and Cygnus’ potential departure from station.

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Mark Garcia

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Crew Wraps Week with Research Hardware Work, Cygnus Packing

Space research hardware kept the Expedition 67 crew busy on Friday as the four astronauts and three cosmonauts turned on free-flying robots, configured nanosatellites, and replaced a fuel bottle inside a furnace. The septet also split its day inside the International Space Station with Earth observations, spacesuit helmet work, and cargo packing.

The Astrobee robotic assistants were flying autonomously inside the Kibo laboratory module today streaming video of their activities to mission controllers on Earth. NASA Flight Engineer Bob Hines configured the cube-shaped Astrobees to test their ability to navigate and visualize the inside of Kibo on their own.

ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti swapped a fuel bottle inside the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace that enables safe observations of high-temperature phenomena in microgravity. She started the day partnering with NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins collecting blood samples and processing them in a centrifuge. Watkins also photographed Earth landmarks in North America, Spain, and Africa while verbally providing descriptions to assist researchers on the ground.

NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren checked out components on a U.S. spacesuit helmet before continuing to pack Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter. Cristoforetti and Watkins both joined Lindgren at the end of the day as they loaded Cygnus with trash and discarded gear ahead of its departure later this month.

In the Russian segment of the orbiting lab, Commander Oleg Artemyev tested a set of nanosatellites before their future deployment. He also assisted Cristoforetti while she pedaled on an exercise cycle for a physical fitness evaluation. Flight Engineer Denis Matveev spent Friday servicing a Russian oxygen generator while Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov worked on configuration tasks and computer maintenance inside the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.

The International Space Station Flight Control Team has decided to postpone the first limited reboost of the International Space Station by the Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply vehicle from Saturday to Monday to refine the duration and magnitude of the activity in the wake of Thursday’s debris avoidance maneuver. The postponement will have no impact on station operations.

This Cygnus mission is the first to feature this enhanced capability as a standard service for NASA, following a test of the maneuver which was performed in 2018 during Cygnus’s ninth resupply mission. Cygnus arrived at the orbital outpost in February and is slated to depart from the space station later this month when it will be deorbited to burn up harmlessly in the Earth’s atmosphere.

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: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Mark Garcia

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Life Science, Debris Avoidance Maneuver Takes Place on Station

Life Science, Debris Avoidance Maneuver Takes Place on Station

The Expedition 67 crew studied advanced physics, continued its human research, and worked on space gardening inside the International Space Station on Thursday. The orbital residents are also readying the Cygnus space freighter for its departure next week.

NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins split her day between physics research hardware and sample processing. She stowed components from the Transparent Alloys industrial manufacturing experiment and returned the Microgravity Science Glovebox to its standard configuration. Watkins also collected blood and urine samples throughout the day and stowed them in a science freezer for future analysis.

Space botany and fluid physics were on the research schedule as well for Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren of NASA and Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency). Lindgren nourished radishes and mizuna greens growing for the XROOTS hydroponics and aeroponics study. Cristoforetti ran a pair of experiment sessions for the Fluidics study that is exploring how fuel behaves in microgravity.

NASA astronaut Bob Hines worked on communications hardware and serviced centrifuge components inside the Human Research Facility. Hines also worked throughout the day with Lindgren, Watkins, and Cristoforetti loading the Cygnus resupply ship with trash and discarded gear ahead of its departure on June 23. NASA TV will broadcast Cygnus’ release from the Canadarm2 robotic arm on the agency’s app and website.

The orbiting lab’s three cosmonauts focused on their complement of research today exploring how to improve space operations. Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov took turns participating in an investigation that may inform piloting and robotics control techniques on future planetary missions. Flight Engineer Denis Matveev set up dosimeters for a long-running radiation detection experiment before removing a sensor that monitored his heart activity for 24 hours.

This afternoon, the International Space Station’s Progress 81 thrusters fired for 4 minutes, 34 seconds in a Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) to provide the complex and extra measure of distance away from the predicted track of a fragment of Russian Cosmos 1408 debris.

The thruster firing occurred at 2:03 p.m. Central time. The crew was never in any danger and the maneuver had no impact on station operations.

Without the maneuver, it was predicted that the fragment could have passed within around a half mile from the station.

The PDAM increased the station’s altitude by 3/10 of a mile at apogee and 7/10 of a mile at perigee and left the station in an orbit of 261.2 x 257.3 statute miles.

The scheduled reboost of the station on Saturday to test Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus NG-17 vehicle’s reboost capability for the first time will still be conducted, but with a slightly reduced engine firing duration to preserve the phasing for Russian Soyuz launch and landing operations in September.

On Saturday, June 18, the Cygnus spacecraft will perform its first limited reboost of the International Space Station. Cygnus’s gimbaled delta velocity engine will be used to adjust the space station’s orbit through a reboost of the altitude of the space station. This Cygnus mission is the first to feature this enhanced capability as a standard service for NASA, following a test of the maneuver which was performed in 2018 during Cygnus’s ninth resupply mission. Cygnus arrived to the orbital outpost in February and is slated to depart from space station later this month where it will burn up harmlessly in the Earth’s atmosphere.

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: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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

Get The Details…

Mark Garcia

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