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<\/a>A pair of commercial crews is preparing to switch places onboard the International Space Station next week. The orbital residents are also continuing more space health studies and cargo activities.<\/p>\n
Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick<\/a>, Mike Barratt<\/a>, Jeanette Epps<\/a>, and Alexander Grebenkin are in the first week of a six-month space research mission. They spent a good portion of Thursday focusing on adapting to life in microgravity. The quartet joined each other midday and familiarized themselves with the locations and operations of emergency hardware throughout the orbital lab. The foursome then split up taking time to learn how to prepare food and drinks, use the restroom, and avoid cables and gear when maneuvering through passageways.<\/p>\n Barratt and Epps also joined homebound astronaut Satoshi Furukawa<\/a> of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) as he demonstrated station systems such as crew quarters, radiation detectors, and ventilation maintenance. Grebenkin met with cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov who is handing over responsibility for the maintenance and control of the European robotic arm.<\/p>\n Dominick was back on human research checking the eyes of NASA Flight Engineer Loral O\u2019Hara<\/a> on Thursday afternoon. The duo worked in the Columbus laboratory module<\/a> with Dominick using medical imaging hardware to view O\u2019Hara\u2019s retinas, cornea, and optic nerve for the CIPHER<\/a> suite of 14 human research experiments. The eye portion of the CIPHER study is exploring how weightlessness affects eye structure and function and ways to protect vision on future planetary missions.<\/p>\n At the end of their shift, Furukawa and Borisov joined crewmates Jasmin Moghbeli<\/a> of NASA and Andreas Mogensen<\/a> of ESA (European Space Agency) preparing for their return to Earth next week. The homebound foursome spent a couple of hours coordinating with mission controllers from SpaceX and NASA and simulating undocking techniques. The quartet is targeted to depart the space station on Monday aboard the SpaceX Dragon \u201cEndurance\u201d spacecraft and parachute to a splashdown off the coast of Florida.<\/p>\n The departing crew has spent the week packing Dragon with station cargo and personal items for return. The \u201cEndurance\u201d crewmates have also been handing over mission responsibilities to their replacements to continue space research and maintain lab systems.<\/p>\n Moghbeli also spent a couple of hours Thursday on cardiac research<\/a> processing cell samples in the Life Science Glovebox<\/a> to learn how to treat space-caused and Earthbound heart conditions. Mogensen took turns with O\u2019Hara swapping cargo in and out of Northrop Grumman\u2019s Cygnus resupply ship<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub, who will be staying in space a few more months, worked on electronics and battery maintenance and studied the dynamic forces the space station experiences orbiting Earth. Chub also partnered with Borisov testing a specialized suit that may help crews adapt quicker when returning to Earth\u2019s gravity environment after several months in space.<\/p>\n Learn more about station activities by following the\u00a0space station blog<\/a>,\u00a0@space_station<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0@ISS_Research<\/a>\u00a0on X, as well as the\u00a0ISS Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0ISS Instagram<\/a>\u00a0accounts.<\/p>\n Get weekly video highlights at:\u00a0https:\/\/roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov\/videoupdate\/<\/a><\/p>\n Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here:\u00a0www.nasa.gov\/subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a><\/p>\n Mark Garcia <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A pair of commercial crews is preparing to switch places onboard the International Space Station next week. The orbital residents are also continuing more space health studies and cargo activities. Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Alexander Grebenkin are in the first week of a six-month space research mission. They spent a \u2026 Continue reading
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