Month: October 2022

Life science, space gardening, and physics filled the Expedition 68 crew’s research schedule at the end of the week aboard the International Space Station. Meanwhile, three tons of new cargo are being unpacked after its arrival overnight.

A host of biomedical studies have been underway this week on the orbiting lab as scientists on the ground explore what happens to the human body when living in weightlessness. Insights help astronauts stay fit and healthy beyond Earth’s gravity and provide an array of solutions and innovations improving life for those back on Earth.

NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada took charge of eye scans on Friday imaging the retinas of crewmates Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Mann then assumed control of the medical imaging hardware and scanned the eyes of NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio. The ocular examinations let doctors understand how microgravity affects the eye and provide countermeasures to protect a crew member’s sight.

Cassada and Mann started Friday morning collecting their blood samples and spinning them in a centrifuge before stowing the blood tubes in a science freezer. Researchers analyze the samples taken before, during, and after a space flight and compare them to samples from other astronauts adding to knowledge of the changes a crew member’s body goes through on and off the Earth.

Growing vegetables on spaceships and space habitats using soilless methods is a top research priority since cargo missions delivering food to the crews will be less feasible beyond low-Earth orbit. Rubio contributed to that research during the morning nourishing and tending to vegetables growing using hydroponic and aeroponic techniques for the XROOTS station botany study. Space agriculture is key to an astronaut’s health if crews are to sustain themselves farther away from Earth.

Space physics is also important as scientists and engineers observe what happens to a variety of materials exposed to ultra-high temperatures with implications for the development and manufacturing of new and advanced materials. The Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) in the Kibo laboratory module is a research device allowing safe thermophysical research in microgravity. Wakata opened up the ELF today servicing samples inside the device that uses lasers to heat specimens above 2,000 degrees Celsius to obtain data on a material’s density, surface tension, and viscosity.

The three cosmonauts aboard the station shifted their sleep schedules today following Thursday night’s arrival of the ISS Progress 82 resupply ship. Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin were on duty when the Progress 82 with its three tons of food, fuel, and supplies docked to the Poisk module at 10:49 p.m. EDT on Thursday. The duo conducted standard leak checks and pressure equalization before opening the hatch to Progress and unpacking the new cargo. Flight Engineer Anna Kikina was also working overnight checking robotics components and maintaining lab systems.

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A Roscosmos space freighter is due to arrive at the International Space Station tonight and replenish the Expedition 68 crew. While they wait for the space delivery, the orbital residents stayed busy throughout Thursday working on more eye and vein scans, a plant habitat, and a spacesuit.

At 10:49 p.m. EDT tonight, two cosmonauts will be on duty when the ISS Progress 82 resupply ship docks to the orbiting lab’s Poisk module. Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin will be inside the Zvezda service module monitoring the Progress 82’s rendezvous and docking. A few hours after the vehicle arrives and the pressure equalizes with the station, the duo will open the hatches and begin offloading about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies.

Prokopyev and Petelin called down to mission controllers during Thursday morning to discuss and prepare for the automated approach of the Progress cargo ship. The duo will be at the controls of the telerobotically operated rendezvous unit, or TORU, inside Zvezda ready to take manual control of the approaching spacecraft on Thursday night if necessary. The two cosmonauts along with Flight Engineer Anna Kikina are sleep-shifting today to get ready for the cargo mission’s nighttime arrival.

Advanced microgravity science is continuing at full pace aboard the space station as the astronauts researched how their bodies adapt to microgravity. Scientists on the ground use the observations to help crews stay healthy and fit during long-term space missions, as well as adapt quicker when returning to Earth’s gravity environment.

Eye and vein scans were back on the orbital research schedule on Thursday morning as NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio powered on the Ultrasound 2 scanner for the ongoing biomedical research. He took charge as crew medical officer and first scanned the eyes of NASA Flight Engineer Nicole Mann during the 15-minute session. Next, Rubio spent an hour imaging Mann’s neck, shoulder, and leg veins, with the ultrasound device to help doctors understand how the human body adapts to living and working in space.

NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada serviced the Plant Habitat located in a science rack installed inside the Kibo laboratory module. He replaced carbon dioxide bottles and checked connections on the automated space botany research facility. Packed with sensors and components that control temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide levels and light intensity, the Plant Habitat enables plant growth experiments for up to four-and-a-half months at a time.

Astronaut Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) spent his day inside the Quest airlock working on spacesuit maintenance with assistance from Rubio. The duo cleaned the spacesuit’s cooling loops and reconfigured the suit’s components in anticipation of upcoming spacewalks.

A Roscosmos resupply ship is in orbit today chasing the International Space Station for a Thursday night docking. Meanwhile, the seven Expedition 68 crew members scanned their veins, studied plasma physics, reviewed U.S. cargo mission procedures, and practiced controlling a new robotic arm on Wednesday.

Three tons of food, fuel, and supplies are packed inside the ISS Progress 82 cargo craft and orbiting Earth headed for the station’s Poisk module where it will dock at 10:49 p.m. EDT on Thursday. The Progress 82 blasted off from a chilly, cloud-covered Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:20 p.m. on Tuesday. Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin will be on duty in the Zvezda service module monitoring the Progress during its automated approach and docking and will be on standby to take manual control if required. They will open the hatches and begin offloading the new cargo a few hours later.

The orbiting lab’s four astronauts kept up a busy schedule of human research on Wednesday studying how space affects their bodies. Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) powered on the Ultrasound 2 device in the morning for a series of vein scans. The veteran astronaut then took turns with NASA Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada using the Ultrasound 2 to obtain imagery of their neck, shoulder, and leg veins.

Cassada also joined NASA Flight Engineer Nicole Mann and used the same ultrasound device to image their eye’s cornea, lens, and optic nerve. Cassada would later join Rubio in the afternoon for more eye scans using biomedical imaging gear, similar to that found in an eye doctor’s office on Earth, to view their retinas. The optic exams help doctors understand how weightlessness affects eye pressure, shape, anatomy, and vision.

Cassada, Mann, and Wakata started the day with health checks checking temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory rate. Cassada and Mann then spent about two hours reviewing operations to robotically capture the U.S. Cygnus space freighter planned to arrive in early November.

Prokopyev was back on space physics research studying how plasma crystals form in space that could advance fundamental knowledge, improve spacecraft designs, and benefit industries on Earth. Petelin attached sensors to himself for an experiment observing how microgravity affects the blood circulation system. Finally, cosmonaut Anna Kikina trained to operate the European robotic arm, the station’s third and newest manipulator, for future external payload activities.