Mission managers have given the “go” for the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew to board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and undock from the Worldwide House Station’s space-facing port on the Concord module at 7:05 a.m. EDT on Monday, July 14. Ax-4 Commander Peggy Whitson will lead Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Mission Specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Tibor Kapu again to Earth finishing a two-and-a-half-week analysis mission aboard the orbiting lab.
The Ax-4 non-public quartet had a full schedule on Friday first gathering blood samples for evaluation as a part of its biomedical analysis. Subsequent, microalgae was studied as a meals supply for crews and a key a part of organic life assist programs on spacecraft. Nanomaterials had been additionally investigated as a foundation for setting up wearable gadgets that comfortably monitor crew well being.
Ax-4 will go into Saturday finalizing science experiments together with {an electrical} muscle stimulation research, testing swimsuit materials that promote thermal consolation whereas exercising, and filming crew actions for a behavioral well being research. On Sunday, they may start packing science gear crammed with analysis samples and loading private gadgets and different cargo inside Dragon for retrieval on Earth.
Station Flight Engineer Anne McClain from NASA started serving to the Ax-4 crew flip its consideration to Monday’s undocking gathering {hardware} and different gadgets for packing inside Dragon. McClain additionally continued helping the non-public crewmates as they stored up their science investigations utilizing area station assets.
NASA Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers started her day within the Columbus laboratory module additionally helping the Ax-4 crew spinning the astronaut’s blood samples in a centrifuge and stowing them in a science freezer for preservation. She later labored contained in the Quest airlock transferring water in a pair of spacesuits. NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim assisted Ayers with the blood pattern processing then spent the remainder of his day inspecting electronics gear and swapping pc cables.
Station Commander Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Company) began his day processing saliva samples for evaluation then recording his sleep expertise for a pc questionnaire. He later labored within the Tranquility module changing orbital plumbing {hardware} earlier than deactivating and stowing a microscope within the Kibo laboratory module.
Roscosmos Flight Engineers Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy took turns pedaling on an train cycle whereas carrying electrodes for a bodily health analysis. Researchers will use the info to know the power necessities crew members want for strenuous actions corresponding to spacewalks. Combat Engineer Kirill Peskov changed hearth extinguishers within the Poisk, Rassvet, and Zvezda modules then checked pc {hardware} that helps the European robotic arm.
Be taught extra about station actions by following the area station weblog, @space_station on X, in addition to the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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