Archivo de la etiqueta: International Space Station

3D VR Cam Stowed During Eye Checks on Station

A 3D virtual reality camera that filmed Sunday’s spacewalk has been returned to the inside of the International Space Station. Meanwhile, the Expedition 65 continued its space biology research and lab maintenance activities on Thursday.

A specialized video camera that filmed Sunday’s spacewalk in immersive virtual reality was grappled by the Canadarm2 robotic arm and placed on a pallet outside of the Kibo laboratory module. The camera was retracted into Kibo’s airlock Thursday morning where ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet retrieved and stowed it. The cinematic videos are part of a research program called ISS (international Space Station) Experience and are downlinked to Earth to excite and bring gravity-bound audiences closer to space.

NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei was the crew medical officer again on Thursday, this time scanning the eyes of Roscosmos Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov with an ultrasound device. Afterward, Vande Hei set up optical coherence tomography gear and imaged Dubrov’s retinas. Eye health is critical during long term space missions as doctors continue exploring how microgravity affects vision.

Commander Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration (JAXA) spent Thursday morning setting up computers and cables before reconfiguring the Cell Biology Experiment Facility for upcoming research. In the afternoon, Hoshide installed a light on a spacesuit helmet then worked on transfers from the SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply ship.

Ensuring the station remains in tip-top shape, NASA Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur worked on life support hardware in the U.S. segment of the orbiting lab. Kimbrough installed a new carbon dioxide remover in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module. McArthur replaced components inside the Tranquility module’s oxygen generator.

Dubrov and Pesquet tested hardware installed in the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module that will soon communicate with and control the European robotic arm. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Novitskiy spent the day servicing orbital plumbing gear in the station’s Russian segment.

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Mark Garcia

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Robotics and Biology Research Fill Station Crew Schedule

A variety of robotics work took place today aboard the International Space Station to teach students programming skills and ready a science module for a new robotic arm. The Expedition 65 crew also conducted vein scans, performed rodent research, and continued cleaning up after Sunday’s spacewalk.

Commander Akihiko Hoshide began Wednesday in the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Kibo laboratory module supporting a robotics challenge for Japanese and American students on Earth. The three-time station resident configured the toaster-sized Astrobee robotic free-flyers to perform maneuvers using programs written by the ground-based students. The event is designed to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers to improve space-based and Earth-bound technologies.

Hoshide also had his veins scanned during the afternoon with NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei taking charge as crew medical officer. Vande Hei used an ultrasound device with real-time assistance from flight surgeons on the ground and examined the JAXA astronaut’s neck, clavicle, shoulder, and leg veins.

Russia’s Nauka multipurpose laboratory module continues to be integrated with the orbiting lab. Two spacewalks on Sept. 3 and Sept. 9 began the cable connection work to power and communicate with the new science module. Now, cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov is configuring Nauka for operations with a new robotic arm from ESA (European Space Agency). The first-time space flyer from Roscosmos is setting up laptop computers and hardware inside Nauka that will soon control the European Robotic Arm attached to Nauka.

Rodent research is underway aboard the orbiting lab this week as mice are being observed in JAXA’s Life Science Glovebox to learn how microgravity affects normal skin and healing functions. NASA Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough collaborated for the space biology study today monitoring the rodents then transferring and feeding them back in their habitats.

McArthur joined ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet earlier in the day stowing tools used during Sunday’s spacewalk to prepare the station for a new Roll-Out Solar Array. Pesquet also spent a portion of his day stowing an ESA incubator and deploying a microbiology experiment.

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Mark Garcia

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Two Flight Engineers’ Stay Extended; Biology, Maintenance Work Pick Up

Two International Space Station crew members have had their stay onboard the orbiting lab extended to nearly a year. Meanwhile, space biology and life support maintenance kept the Expedition 65 crew busy on Tuesday.

With the plans for Russian spaceflight participants to visit the space station as part of the Soyuz MS-19 crew in October 2021, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Roscosmos cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov will remain aboard the station until March 2022. Upon return to Earth, Vande Hei will hold the record for longest single spaceflight for an American.

A potential benefit to this extension is NASA gaining deeper insight into how the human body adapts to life in microgravity for longer periods of time. This research helps prepare for Artemis missions to the Moon and eventually long-duration missions to Mars, as well as provides critical opportunities for additional research to be conducted aboard the station that can benefit life on Earth.

Rodents living on the station will soon be studied to understand how microgravity affects a variety of biological systems and processes. NASA Flight Engineers Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough began their day Tuesday training for the Rodent Research-1 Demonstration (RR-D1) experiment that will take place inside the Kibo laboratory module.

Afterward, Commander Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency joined Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) and took their turn studying for the upcoming RR-D1 study. The rodents will live in JAXA’s Mouse Habitat Unit and the experiment will be housed inside Kibo’s Life Science Glovebox. The biology study specifically aims to understand how weightlessness impacts normal skin function and wound healing.

Vande Hei, with assistance from Kimbrough, removed support components today that kept a new carbon dioxide (CO2) scrubber attached to the SpaceX Cargo Dragon spaceship during its flight to the station last month. The device that cleans the station’s atmosphere of CO2 will soon be installed in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module.

Dubrov and fellow cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy are still reconfiguring the station’s Russian segment following their two spacewalks on Sept. 3 and Sept. 9. The duo also took turns wearing heart monitoring gear. Dubrov then began setting up a laptop computer and a European robotic arm controller inside the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.

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Mark Garcia

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Crew Turns Attention to Research Following Trio of Spacewalks

The Expedition 65 crew is back on microgravity research aboard the International Space Station today after kicking off September with three spacewalks in less than two weeks.

International astronauts Akihiko Hoshide and Thomas Pesquet relaxed Monday morning following their six-hour and 54-minute spacewalk on Sunday to install a modification kit on the station’s Port-4 (P4) truss structure. The Commander from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) then joined the ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer for standard health checks that take place after the strenuous spacewalks.

Afterward, Hoshide swabbed and collected microbe samples from station surfaces for incubation and analysis back on Earth. Pesquet also collected microbe samples from the station’s atmosphere for observation on petri dishes.

NASA Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Megan McArthur both relaxed on Monday morning having assisted spacewalkers Hoshide and Pesquet throughout the day on Sunday. Vande Hei then moved on and swapped and cleaned components for the ACE-T-11 physics study that is exploring space manufacturing techniques. McArthur replaced fuel bottles inside the Combustion Integrated Rack and later cleaned up debris in the orbiting lab’s Plant Habitat housing Hatch Green chiles growing for the Plant Habitat-04 space crop experiment.

Working throughout Monday inside the Kibo laboratory module, NASA Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough began setting up hardware and trained for the newest rodent research experiment. Mice, delivered on the recent SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission, will soon be observed inside Kibo’s Life Science Glovebox to understand how microgravity affects the healing process.

Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov continue cleaning up in the station’s Russian segment following their spacewalks on Sept. 3 and Sept. 9 to configure the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for science operations. The duo from Roscosmos also had time for life support maintenance and cargo transfers from the Progress 78 resupply ship today.

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Norah Moran

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International Astronauts Complete Power System Mods Spacewalk

Astronauts Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency) have concluded the first spacewalk conducted by two international partner astronauts out of the International Space Station’s Quest airlock at 3:09 p.m. EDT, after 6 hours and 54 minutes.

Hoshide and Pesquet successfully assembled and attached a support bracket in preparation for future installation of the orbiting laboratory’s third new solar array. NASA is augmenting six of the eight existing power channels of the space station with new solar arrays to ensure a sufficient power supply is maintained for NASA’s exploration technology demonstrations for Artemis and beyond as well as utilization and commercialization.

The crew also replaced a device that measures the electrical charging potential of the arrays and associated surfaces in its vicinity, called a floating point measurement unit, on a separate truss section. The new device was powered on successfully.

This was the fourth spacewalk for Hoshide, the sixth for Pesquet, and the 12^th spacewalk this year. Hoshide has now spent a total of 28 hours and 17 minutes spacewalking, and Pesquet’s total spacewalking time is 39 hours and 54 minutes. Space station crew members have now spent a total of 64 days, 5 hours, and 54 minutes working outside the station conducting 244 spacewalks in support of assembly and maintenance of the orbiting laboratory.

In November 2020, the International Space Station surpassed its 20-year milestone of continuous human presence, providing opportunities for unique research and technological demonstrations that help prepare for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars and also improve life on Earth. In that time, 244 people from 19 countries have visited the orbiting laboratory that has hosted nearly 3,000 research investigations from researchers in 108 countries and areas.

Learn more about station activities by following @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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