The Expedition 71 crew turned its consideration to an upcoming U. S. cargo mission, spacesuit work, and quite a lot of life science on Monday. NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Take a look at members started the week servicing their Starliner flight fits and the spacecraft’s life help methods following a morning of sunshine analysis duties.
The following cargo mission to resupply the residents residing and dealing aboard the International Space Station is counting right down to a launch at 11:28 a.m. EDT on Saturday from Kennedy Area Middle in Florida. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus house freighter will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 8,200 kilos of science, provides, and {hardware} for the station. Cygnus will orbit Earth for simply over a day-and-a-half earlier than approaching the orbital outpost the place the Canadarm2 robotic arm might be ready to seize the spacecraft.
NASA Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps spent Monday getting ready for Cygnus’ arrival reviewing its mission profile and training robotic seize maneuvers on a pc. Dominick will command the Canadarm2 to seize Cygnus at 5 a.m. on Aug. 5 whereas Epps backs him up and displays the method and rendezvous actions. Afterward, robotics controllers on the bottom will remotely take over Canadarm2 and information Cygnus towards the Unity module’s Earth-facing port the place will probably be mated for five-and-a-half months.
NASA Flight Engineer Mike Barratt kicked off his day checking on plumbing {hardware} stowed within the Zarya module earlier than swapping elements and configuring a U.S. spacesuit within the Quest airlock. NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson spent her morning within the Columbus laboratory module troubleshooting the MARES rack, or Muscle Atrophy Research and Exercise System, then spent the afternoon putting in drawer deal with brackets on a pair of Human Research Facility racks.
Starliner Commander Butch Wilmore and Pilot Suni Williams entered their spacecraft Monday afternoon and checked its water methods, referred to as right down to Boeing mission personnel for a convention, then wore their flight fits momentarily for a stress check. Wilmore began his morning within the station’s Harmony module assembling the BioServe centrifuge as Williams reviewed procedures for working the Astrobee free-flying robotic assistants.
The orbiting lab’s three cosmonauts refocused their actions on Monday to plain house analysis and lab upkeep duties following per week of inspection duties within the orbital outpost’s Roscosmos section. Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub labored all day on science first finding out a 3D printer’s capacity to fabricate instruments in microgravity, then explored how magnetic and electrical fields have an effect on fluid physics, earlier than lastly putting in {hardware} to picture Earth’s nighttime ambiance in near-ultraviolet wavelengths. Flight Engineer Alexander Grebenkin connected sensors to himself in the course of the morning for a 24-session measuring his coronary heart price and blood stress. Afterward, he pointed a digital camera exterior a station window taking footage for a pair of Earth remark research. At first of his shift, station Commander Oleg Kononenko put in radiation detection {hardware} cables then inventoried meals rations.
Be taught extra about station actions by following the house station weblog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, in addition to the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
Get weekly video highlights at:
Get the newest from NASA delivered each week. Subscribe right here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe
