Preparation for the arrival of the visiting crew, how humans adapt to the microgravity environment of space, the services of systems onboard, and documents on European landmarks from Earth Orbit kept the seven busy astronauts and astronauts this week (June 2-June 6) at the busy 73-year-old International Space Station (ISS).
Orbital observation
“I noticed smoke in the Northern US and Canada a few days ago, so it took me a while to understand what it was. From our perspective it looks like the formation of clouds of almost different colours.” I wrote it on x June 3rd, after discovering smoke from a Canadian wildfire, caused evacuation in your state and affected air quality in some US.
“The brown shades to the clouds and the fact that they overlapped with white clouds caught my eye. I have been trying to capture it every day to help me understand the movement of smoke. I hope everyone is safe!” Ayers wrote.
The science situation
Among the research conducted at the Space Station this week was:
Bio Monitor – For two days this week, NASA astronaut Johnny Kim assessed whether she could collect health data while wearing this Canadian instrument and wear it, and did not interfere with other activities.
virtual – Russian astronaut Alexey Zubritskiy, supported by Sergey Ryzhikov, wore a pair of VR goggles while visually tracking movements and maintaining balance as part of his research into the microgravity capabilities of the vestibular system.
Brain drainage 2.0 – Commander Onysia of Expedition 73 Jakusa (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) measured blood flow from the brain to the heart using electrodes from this rapid screening tool.
Elvis – Ayers collaborated with the existing lifetime measurement imaging system, a 3D microscope stored in Jaxa’s Kino lab, which was used to observe samples of Deep-SEA bacteria. The demonstration could lead to using similar devices to identify infectious organisms that may have a water supply in both space and Earth.
Zubritskiy also recorded Eastern European landmarks for several days this week, with astronaut Kirill Peskov taking photos of the Volga River and Aral Sea, visually assessing the aftermath of both natural and human disasters.
Station Keeping
The crew also spent time maintaining the space station system, including:
beam – Ayers and fellow NASA astronaut Anne McClain have moved the hardware installed in the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, which will serve as the station’s “float-in” closet since it was installed and inflated in 2016.
Spaceborne Computer-2 – Kim replaced the processor cartridges of this commercially available ready-made computer. It has been evaluated for its ability to promote research analysis without the need for earth-based support.
PCBA – McClain has updated the firmware of the portable clinical hematology analyzer, a handheld unit used to rapidly test blood samples for numerous research studies conducted on the ISS.
astropi – Kim also moved this computer-controlled camera from a window inside the Unity module to another window inside the European Space Agency (ESA) Columbus module. Students will use these camera pairs remotely for engineering and science projects.
Ryzhikov also assisted Zubritskiy to clean the heater fans, fill in oxygen generator tanks with progress MS-29 (90p) cargo spacecraft, and provide neutron radiation detectors in the Russian segment of the space station.
Astronaut activities
In addition to the above works, McClain is working on Sophimist.
“Sophie Mist stands for ignition and extinction of solid fuels – ignition and suppression of materials,” she wrote Posted on June 6th. “The mist consists of a small-scale combustion wind tunnel, a cylindrical fuel sample, an igniter, a radiant heater, and instrumentation. Various parameters such as air flow, oxygen concentration, pressure, and external radiation levels allow us to see the resulting flame produced in the sample. Space.”
“This week I changed the fuel samples and igniters for the next science run.”
Create space for visitors
This week’s crew activities for Expedition 73 also include preparing for short-term visitors’ arrivals. Axiom Space’s fourth commercial mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to arrive on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on Wednesday (June 11th).
Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will lead an AX-4 crew, including Indian pilot Shuvansch Shukla and Polish mission specialist Swos Uznasky Winnierwhisky and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu.
The station crew reviewed the mission manager and AX-4 plan with McLaine and Ayers on the ground assigned to oversee the dragon’s approach from inside the station. The two used their computers to see what situations they could encounter when the dragon approaches the orbital complex.
Onishi prepared a tablet computer for use by Whitson, Shukla, Uznaski Winiewski and Kapu on his two-week scientific research mission.
By numbers
As of Friday (June 6th) Seven people Aboard the International Space Station: Commander Takuya Onisha of Jaxa, Anne McLean, Nicole Ayers, Johnny Kim of Nasa, Kiril Peskov, Sergei Rizikov, Alexy Zubritsky of Roscosmos, all flight engineers.
There is Two docked crew spaceships: Attached to the front port of SpaceX’s Dragon “Endurance” Harmony module, and Roscosmos’ Soyuz MS-27 is attached to the Earth-facing port of the Prichal node.
there is Docked two cargo spaceships: Rosocmos Progess MS-29 (90p) installed in the space-facing port of the Poisk module and Progress MS-30 (91p) installed in the rear port of the Zvezda service module.
As of Friday, the space station is on a continuous crew 24 years, 7 months, 5 days.
