Mobile immunity and digestion had been the primary analysis matters on Wednesday because the Expedition 72 crew explored area biology aboard the Worldwide Area Station. The orbital residents additionally labored on spacesuit upkeep and ready for the arrival of a brand new cargo mission this weekend.
NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague started his day amassing his blood and saliva samples for the Immunity Assay investigation. Earlier than breakfast, he started his saliva work processing and stowing the samples in a science freezer. Then he handled his blood samples and spun them in a centrifuge earlier than lastly loading the specimens in a pair of temperature managed Kubik incubators. The samples will probably be analyzed on the area station to grasp space-caused mobile stress and tissue harm. Outcomes might reveal how an astronaut’s immune system responds to the shortage of gravity and enhance methods to observe crew well being on missions farther away from Earth.
Spacesuit work stuffed the day for NASA Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Butch Wilmore who partnered collectively contained in the Quest airlock. The duo cleaned water cooling loops, swapped elements, and checked the communications system on a spacesuit following a pair of spacewalks in January and earlier than one other spacewalk deliberate for the spring. Pettit later loaded disposable cargo contained in the Cygnus space freighter whereas Wilmore eliminated area physics {hardware} from contained in the Microgravity Science Glovebox.
NASA’s station Commander Suni Williams spent her day on inspection actions all through the orbital outpost’s U.S. section. She checked out transportable hearth extinguishers, respiratory masks, emergency air provide tanks, and different security {hardware} guaranteeing their performance. Williams accomplished her shift contained in the Columbus laboratory module inspecting air ducts inside momentary crew quarters that host visiting crews for brief intervals of time.
Roscosmos Flight Engineers Aleksandr Gorbunov and Ivan Vagner joined one another for ultrasound scans of their stomachs earlier than and after breakfast on Wednesday to grasp how weightlessness impacts their digestion system. Gorbunov then collected air samples within the Zvezda, Nauka, and Rassvet modules for evaluation. Vagner later joined Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin and educated for an upcoming cargo mission.
The Roscosmos Progress 91 cargo craft is at its launch pad on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan counting right down to launch at 4:42 p.m. EST on Thursday. The Progress 91 is scheduled to dock to Zvezda’s aft port at 6:03 p.m. on Saturday delivering three tons of meals, gasoline, and provides to the Expedition 72 crew. Vagner and Ovchinin ready for the Progress 91’s arrival and educated on the TORU, or telerobotically operated rendezvous unit, situated in Zvezda that may remotely command and management an approaching Roscosmos spacecraft if mandatory.
Be taught extra about station actions by following the area station weblog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, in addition to the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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