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<\/a>Three Expedition 64<\/a> crew members reviewed departure procedures today as they get ready to leave the International Space Station<\/a> at the end of the week. Meanwhile, there was a harvest onboard the orbital lab today while three new crewmates get used to life in space.<\/p>\n NASA astronaut Kate Rubins<\/a> joined Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy<\/a> and Pyotr Dubrov<\/a> Tuesday afternoon and looked over the steps they will take after they undock from the space station on Friday at 9:34 p.m. EDT. The trio reviewed the g-forces that occur when entering Earth\u2019s atmosphere and experiencing gravity for the first time in 185 days. The former station residents will parachute to Earth inside the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft after leaving the Poisk module about three-and-a-half hours earlier.<\/p>\n A small crop of Amara Mustard and Pak Choi plants was picked today as part of the ongoing Veg-3 space agriculture study<\/a>. NASA Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins<\/a> removed the plants from the Columbus lab module\u2019s Veggie Facility and stowed the leaves for later analysis. The botany investigation is informing NASA and its international partners on how to feed crews without resupply ships on future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.<\/p>\n Ongoing technical and life support maintenance is key to ensuring science experiments are up and running and the astronauts stay healthy while orbiting Earth.<\/p>\n Astronaut Soichi Noguchi<\/a> of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency continued servicing the Cell Biology Experiment Facility<\/a>, an incubator that generates artificial gravity to support cell and plant biology studies. Victor Glover<\/a> routed ethernet cables and Shannon Walker<\/a>, both NASA flight engineers, worked on a U.S. oxygen generator throughout Tuesday.<\/p>\n The station\u2019s newest crew members, Mark Vande Hei<\/a> of NASA and Oleg Novitskiy<\/a> and Pyotr Dubrov<\/a>, both from Roscosmos, are in their first week on the space station. They are getting oriented with station systems while also stepping up their science and maintenance activities. Vande Hei installed acoustic monitors and collected carbon dioxide data today. Novitskiy worked on a Russian radiation experiment<\/a> as Dubrov checked ear, nose and throat medical equipment.<\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a><\/p>\n Mark Garcia <\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three Expedition 64 crew members reviewed departure procedures today as they get ready to leave the International Space Station at the end of the week. Meanwhile, there was a harvest onboard the orbital lab today while three new crewmates get used to life in space. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins joined Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and \u2026 Continue reading