Expedition 73 Tracks Health and Gears Up for Cargo Missions
The Expedition 73 crew kicked off the week tracking health in microgravity and working on spacesuit gear. The orbital residents also will soon see the arrival of a cargo craft and the departure of another at the International Space Station.
NASA Flight Engineers Jonny Kim and Zena Cardman took turns attaching a variety of sensors to themselves on Monday for a pair of studies measuring their health data in microgravity. Kim began a 48-hour session wearing the Bio-Monitor vest and headband tracking his cardiovascular health for the CIPHER suite of 14 human research investigations. Cardman wore electrodes and breathing gear measuring her heart and breathing rate while pedaling on the Destiny laboratory module’s exercise cycle. Doctors monitor the astronauts’ aerobic health to ensure their bodies can handle sustained physical activities such as long spacewalks or the return to Earth’s gravity after several months in space.
After the health monitoring sessions, Kim joined JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui in the Columbus laboratory module where they set up a pair of research incubators and connected them to a portable power supply. Cardman assisted NASA Flight Engineer Mike Fincke in the Quest airlock, servicing high-definition camera hardware worn on spacesuit helmets.
Yui, a veteran of two spaceflights, began his shift in the Kibo laboratory module setting up botany hardware for the Plant Cell Division experiment that is investigating space agricultural techniques. He also readied equipment for Tuesday’s Immunity Assay study when he will collect his blood and saliva samples for analysis back on Earth to understand how living in space affects cellular immunity.
In the Roscosmos segment of the orbital outpost, cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky gathered trash and outdated gear for disposal aboard the Progress 91 resupply ship docked to the rear port of the Zvezda service module. The Progress 91 is due to wrap up a six-month cargo mission in September when it will undock from Zvezda and reenter Earth’s atmosphere above the South Pacific Ocean for a fiery, but safe destruction.
Roscosmos cosmonaut and first-time space-flyer Oleg Platonov trained to use the COLBERT treadmill with assistance from Yui who also set up a Bluetooth monitor measuring Platonov’s heart rate during his workout. Afterward, Platonov installed and activated Earth observation gear to capture multispectral imagery of landmarks on the ground.
Preparations aboard the station and on the ground continue for the next launch to deliver science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the orbital outpost. NASA and SpaceX are targeting 2:45 a.m. EDT, Sunday, Aug. 24, to launch more than 5,000 pounds of cargo aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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Mark A. Garcia
