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<\/a><\/figure>The Expedition 74<\/a> crew kicked off the work week readying a spacesuit and studying procedures for an upcoming spacewalk later this month. The International Space Station<\/a> residents are also packing a Japanese cargo craft and preparing it for departure from the International Space Station at the end of the week.<\/p>\n NASA flight engineers Chris Williams<\/a> and Jack Hathaway<\/a> partnered with each other before lunchtime on Monday and unstowed spacesuit components and staged them inside the Quest airlock<\/a>. Afterward, NASA flight engineer Jessica Meir<\/a> worked inside Quest and installed leg and arm components on a single spacesuit then swapped components from one spacesuit to another.<\/p>\n Hathaway later joined ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Sophie Adenot and reviewed how to suit up an astronaut, guide a spacewalker in and out of the airlock, communicate with mission controllers during a spacewalk, and more. The astronauts are gearing up for a spacewalk that was postponed<\/a> in January to install a modification kit and route cables for a future roll-out solar array on the port side of the orbital outpost.<\/p>\n Williams also trained for the departure of JAXA\u2019s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) HTV-X1 cargo craft that launched to the space station in October from Tanegashima Space Center. He reviewed the procedures he will use when the Canadarm2 robotic arm<\/a> releases the HTV-X1 into Earth orbit and when monitoring the Japanese cargo craft\u2019s departure. Meir, after her spacesuit work, continued packing the HTV-X1 with trash and discarded gear.<\/p>\n The HTV-X1 will first be robotically detached from the Harmony module<\/a>\u2019s space-facing port on Thursday and parked overnight for a sensor demonstration test. Next, the Canadarm2 will release HTV-X1 at 12 p.m. EST on Friday<\/a> for three months of remote science activities before its fiery, but safe reentry above the south Pacific Ocean. Live coverage begins at 11:45 a.m. EST on\u00a0NASA+<\/a>,\u00a0Amazon Prime<\/a>, and the agency\u2019s\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0channel.<\/p>\n Amid the spacesuit and cargo-packed schedule, the astronauts also worked on advanced technology and human research. Williams finished installing and configuring a pair of small robotic arms<\/a> in the Kibo laboratory module<\/a> that will test precision mobility and experiment automation in microgravity. Adenot took a cognition test to understand how living in microgravity affects orientation, reasoning, decision-making, and more. Meanwhile, Hathaway and Meir took turns pedaling on the Destiny laboratory module<\/a>\u2019s exercise cycle<\/a> as a heart rate monitor measured their cardiac activity providing insights into microgravity\u2019s effect on the human body.<\/p>\n In the Roscosmos segment of the orbital lab, flight engineers Sergei Mikaev and Andrey Fedyaev explored using artificial intelligence tools to log a crew member\u2019s activities improving communications and crew effectiveness. Station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov performed a photographic inspection of the Zvezda service module<\/a>\u2019s windows then explored using molecular beams to grow semiconductor structures in an ultra-high vacuum.<\/p>\n Learn more about station activities by following the <\/em>space station blog<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>@space_station<\/em><\/a> on X, as well as the <\/em>ISS Facebook<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>ISS Instagram<\/em><\/a> accounts.<\/em><\/p>\n Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. <\/em>Subscribe here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a><\/p>\n Mark A. Garcia <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Expedition 74 crew kicked off the work week readying a spacesuit and studying procedures for an upcoming spacewalk later this month. The International Space Station residents are also packing a Japanese cargo craft and preparing it for departure from the International Space Station at the end of the week. Continue reading