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<\/a>The\u00a0Expedition 63<\/a>\u00a0crew ended its stay isolated in the Russian segment of the\u00a0International Space Station<\/a>\u00a0this morning after an extended leak test. Mission Control also deployed remote teams to maintain 24\/7 support for the station and its crew as Hurricane Laura approaches the Texas Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n Commander\u00a0Chris Cassidy<\/a>\u00a0started the day reopening the hatches to the U.S. segment to begin resuming normal station operations. He reactivated U.S. life support equipment and restowed U.S. gear used during the crew\u2019s weekend stay in the\u00a0Zvezda service module<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mission control will study the test data this week in an effort to determine the source of a cabin air leak detected in September of 2019.\u00a0The rate is still well within segment specifications and presents no danger to the crew or the space station.\u00a0The station\u2019s atmosphere is maintained at a pressure comfortable for the crew members, and a tiny bit of that air leaks over time, requiring routine repressurization from nitrogen tanks delivered on cargo resupply missions.<\/p>\n Roscosmos Flight Engineer\u00a0Anatoly Ivanishin<\/a>\u00a0spent the morning reconfiguring the Russian segment of the orbiting lab. The veteran station cosmonaut checked pressure valves and communications gear while opening hatches to various Russian modules.<\/p>\n Flight Engineer\u00a0Ivan Vagner<\/a>, on his first station mission, started the day resetting Russian life support equipment and sampling the air in Zvezda for analysis. Vagner also had time for science during the afternoon studying the Earth\u2019s nighttime atmosphere and exploring ways to improve\u00a0locating landmarks on Earth<\/a>\u00a0for photography.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, personnel at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center<\/a> in Houston are monitoring Hurricane Laura and making general preparations at the center. A small team of flight controllers germane to monitoring and sending commands for the most important station systems were sent to a backup control center hub in central Texas in advance of the storm.<\/p>\n A full team of station flight controllers is getting set up at the Marshall Space Flight Center<\/a> in Huntsville, Alabama, to take over longer-term control of station systems should that become necessary. This backup activity is planned for each hurricane season or for some other extenuating circumstance and will be executed with no impact on critical station operations or the safety of the crew.<\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a><\/p>\n Mark Garcia <\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Expedition 63 crew ended its stay isolated in the Russian segment of the International Space Station this morning after an extended leak test. Mission Control also deployed remote teams to maintain 24\/7 support for the station and its crew as Hurricane Laura approaches the Texas Gulf Coast. Commander Chris Cassidy started the day reopening the hatches to the U.S. segment … Continue reading