The International Space Station soared into the Moon’s shadow throughout the photo voltaic eclipse on Monday afternoon. The Expedition 71 crew members had a chance to view the shadow on the finish of their workday full of cargo transfers, spacesuit upkeep, and microgravity analysis.
The home windows on the cupola, the orbital outpost’s “window to the world,” have been open and NASA Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps have been inside photographing and videotaping the Moon’s shadow on Earth, or umbra, beneath them. They have been orbiting 260 miles above southeastern Canada because the Moon’s umbra was transferring from New York state into Newfoundland.
The area station skilled a totality of about 90% throughout its flyover interval. Views of the photo voltaic eclipse itself, the Moon orbiting immediately between the solar and the Earth, have been solely accessible by way of a pair of home windows within the area station’s Roscosmos section which can not have been accessible attributable to cargo constraints.
Earlier than the eclipse actions started on Monday, Dominick labored on orbital plumbing, serviced a pair of science freezers and swapped cargo out and in of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Dominick then joined NASA astronaut Mike Barratt inspecting spacesuit tethers and organizing spacewalking instruments.
Epps put in a small satellite tv for pc orbital deployer contained in the Kibo laboratory module’s airlock and in addition participated within the Dragon cargo work. NASA Flight Engineer Tracy C. Dyson assisted Epps with the small satellite tv for pc installations and cargo transfers. Dyson additionally reviewed operations with the BioFabrication Facility and ready analysis {hardware} for an upcoming session to print cardiac tissue cell samples.
Station Commander Oleg Kononenko spent Monday on inspection duties within the aft finish of the Zvezda service module and Progress 87 resupply ship. Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub targeted his consideration on electronics and air flow upkeep. Chub additionally spent just a few moments helping Flight Engineer Alexander Grebenkin as he hooked up sensors to himself measuring his coronary heart exercise for a long-running Roscosmos area cardiac investigation. He later turned on an ultrasound system and scanned surfaces inside Zvezda.
