Spacesuits, Science and Maintenance on Crew Schedule Today

Spacesuits, Science and Maintenance on Crew Schedule Today

Spacewalkers Jessica Meir and Christina Koch pose with their Expedition 61 crewmates
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir (left) and Christina Koch (right) are suited up and ready to go on the first all-woman spacewalk and posing with their Expedition 61 crewmates.

The Expedition 61 crew tackled a variety of maintenance jobs and microgravity science onboard the International Space Station today. The orbital residents are also gearing up for the departure of a Japanese cargo ship and more spacewalks tentatively scheduled for November.

Flight Engineer Christina Koch continued loading trash and obsolete gear in Japan’s resupply ship before stowing spacewalk tools and hardware today. Commander Luca Parmitano began his day getting up to speed on future spacewalks planned for the repair of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Koch and Parmitano later joined together and installed new stowage racks inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module.

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir spent all day Wednesday cleaning cooling loops inside the U.S. spacesuits she and Koch wore last week. Parmitano and Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan were also on spacesuit duty checking tethers and recharging the metal oxide canisters that scrub carbon dioxide from the suit atmosphere.

Morgan was back in the Japanese Kibo laboratory module this morning installing an incubator into the Saibo biology research rack. He then watered plants for a space agriculture study exploring how to provide fresh food for long-term space crews.

In the Russian segment of the orbiting lab, veteran cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov researched ways to improve geographic accuracy when photographing the Earth. Flight Engineer Oleg Skripochka continued testing acoustic gear to detect and locate micrometeoroid impacts on the station.

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Mark Garcia

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Station Focusing on Japanese Ship Departure and Space Biology

Station Focusing on Japanese Ship Departure and Space Biology

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir
With the Earth 250 miles below, NASA astronaut Jessica Meir is pictured tethered to the outside of the International Space Station during a seven-hour, 17-minute spacewalk she conducted with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch (out of frame).

Japan’s resupply ship is nearing the end of its month-long stay at the International Space Station. Meanwhile, the Expedition 61 crew is exploring how microgravity impacts humans and plants today.

Fresh off her fourth spacewalk last Friday, NASA astronaut Christina Koch is packing the Japanese HTV-8 cargo craft with discarded hardware and trash for disposal. Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) joined Koch for the cargo transfers today.

Koch and NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Meir will be in the cupola on Friday, Nov. 1 commanding the Canadarm2 robotic arm to release the HTV-8. It will reenter Earth’s atmosphere the following day for a fiery, but safe demise above the Pacific Ocean.

Parmitano and Koch switched roles during the afternoon from space movers to crew medical officers (CMO) examining Meir and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan. The CMOs operated an ultrasound scanner looking at the cornea, lens and optic nerve inside the eyes of Meir and Morgan.

Koch also researched surface tension in space to understand afflictions such as Alzheimer’s disease and design advanced materials. Meir tended to plants for an ongoing space agriculture study. Morgan installed new life science hardware inside the Kibo lab module’s Saibo biology research rack.

Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka set up acoustic gear testing the detection and location of micrometeoroid impacts on the space station. The duo spent the rest of the afternoon checking docking hardware on the Zvezda service module and the Pirs docking compartment.

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Mark Garcia

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Eye Checks and Maintenance During Spacewalk Cleanup Today

Eye Checks and Maintenance During Spacewalk Cleanup Today

Spacewalkers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir
Spacewalkers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir are pictured during the first all-woman spacewalk that lasted seven hours and 17 minutes. View more spacewalk photos.

The Expedition 61 crew is cleaning up today after the first all-woman spacewalk at the International Space Station. Eye checks and lab maintenance also kicked off the workweek as two cosmonauts took the day off.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir are stowing the tools they used on Friday during a seven-hour and 17-minute spacewalk. Koch is also packing a failed power controller for return to Earth after replacing it with spare unit during last week’s excursion. Meir recorded how she felt about the first spacewalk of her career for a 3-D virtual reality film.

During the afternoon, Meir joined Commander Luca Parmitano and fellow Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan for eye exams. The trio took turns peering into Optical Coherence Tomography hardware so ground doctors could check the astronauts’ retinas.

Morgan partnered with Koch in the morning transferring hardware from the Permanent Multipurpose Module to Japan’s HTV-8 resupply ship. The HTV-8 will complete its 34-day cargo mission at the station’s Harmony module on Nov. 1.

Cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka are relaxing today after a busy week of space research and maintenance over the station’s Russian segment. The veteran space duo are each on their third long-duration mission at the orbiting lab.

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Mark Garcia

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NASA Astronauts Wrap Up Historic All-Woman Spacewalk

NASA Astronauts Wrap Up Historic All-Woman Spacewalk

NASA spacewalkers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir
NASA spacewalkers Christina Koch (foreground, suit with red stripe) and Jessica Meir (suit with no stripes) replaced a failed battery charge-discharge unit with a new one during a 7-hour, 17-minute spacewalk. Credit: NASA TV

At 2:55 p.m. EDT, Expedition 61 Flight Engineers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir of NASA concluded their spacewalk, the first with only women. During the 7-hour, 17-minute spacewalk, the two NASA astronauts completed the replacement a failed power charging component, also known as a battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU). The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems. Mission control activated the newly installed BCDU and reported it is operating properly.

The astronauts were also able to accomplish some get-ahead tasks including installation of a stanchion on the Columbus module for support of a new external ESA (European Space Agency) payload platform called Bartolomeo scheduled for launch to the station in 2020.

Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan assisted the spacewalkers. Parmitano operated the Canadarm2 robotics arm and Morgan provided airlock and spacesuit support.

It was the eighth spacewalk outside the station this year. Space station crew members have now conducted 221 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory. Spacewalkers have spent a total of 57 days, 20 hours, and 29 minutes working outside the station.

It was the first spacewalk for Meir and the fourth for Koch, who now has spent a total of 27 hours and 48 minutes spacewalking. It is the first spaceflight for both women, who were selected in the 2013 astronaut class that had equal numbers of women and men. Koch arrived to the orbiting laboratory in March 2019 and will remain in space for an extended duration mission of 11 months to provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Meir became the 15th woman to spacewalk, and the 14th U.S. woman. It was the 43rd spacewalk to include a woman. Women have been performing spacewalks since 1984, when Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya spacewalked in July and NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan spacewalked in October.

The faulty BCDU is due to return to Earth on the next SpaceX Dragon resupply ship for inspection. Station managers will reschedule the three battery replacement spacewalks for a future date. In the meantime, the five planned spacewalks to repair a cosmic particle detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, are still on the calendar for November and December.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @Space_Station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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Female Duo Ventures Outside Station for Historic Spacewalk

Female Duo Ventures Outside Station for Historic Spacewalk

Astronauts Chrstina Koch (left) and Jessica Meir
Astronauts Chrstina Koch (left) and Jessica Meir prepare for their first spacewalk together inside the U.S. Quest airlock.

Two NASA astronauts switched their spacesuits to battery power this morning at 7:38 a.m. EDT. Expedition 61 Flight Engineers Christina Koch and Jessica Meir are venturing out into the vacuum of space to replace a failed power controller, also known as a battery charge-discharge unit (BCDU). The BCDU regulates the charge to the batteries that collect and distribute solar power to the orbiting lab’s systems.

It is the first time all spacewalkers are women and the 43rd spacewalk to include women. Watch the spacewalk on NASA TV and on the agency’s website.

Koch is designated extravehicular crew member 1 (EV 1), wearing the suit with red stripes, and her helmet camera is labeled #18. Meir is designated extravehicular crew member 2 (EV 2), wearing the suit with no stripes, and with helmet camera #11.

The spacewalk is the 221st in support of station assembly, maintenance and upgrades and the eighth outside the station this year.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @Space_Station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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