April 20, 2024

Space Station Crew Preps for Spacewalk, Scans Veins and Evaluates Artificial Gravity Suit

. Chari and Maurer took turns as the crew medical officer on Thursday afternoon imaging Marshburns and Barrons veins.

By NASA
March 11, 2022

The duo was joined by fellow station astronauts Tom Marshburn of NASA and Matthias Maurer of ESA (European Space Agency) for a spacewalk procedures evaluation and conference with experts on the ground. Mission supervisors will talk about the spacewalk, as well as a second one prepared for March 23, live on the NASA Television app and the website on Monday at 2 p.m. NASA Television begins its live spacewalk broadcast on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m

. The four astronauts also took turns scanning each others shoulder, leg and neck veins using the Ultrasound 2 device. Chari and Maurer took turns as the team medical officer on Thursday afternoon imaging Marshburns and Barrons veins. Doctors on the ground kept track of the biomedical activities and will examine downlinked imagery as part of regular team health evaluations.
NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei worked throughout the day on upkeep activities servicing research study equipment and interactions hardware. He started the day in the Kibo lab module placing combustion science components inside a payload rack then set up a wireless system in the Nauka multipurpose lab module.
In the stations Russian section, Commander Anton Shkaplerov and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov assessed an artificial gravity match that counteracts the pooling of fluids in a team members upper body. The lower body unfavorable pressure suit expands veins and tissues in the lower body potentially preventing vision changes and head pressure in microgravity.

Astronaut Kayla Barron points the video camera at herself for an out-of-this-world “space-selfie” throughout a spacewalk that happened on December 2, 2021. Credit: NASA
The Expedition 66 crew continued preparing today for the very first of 2 spacewalks set to start next week to continue upgrading the International Space Stations power system. Vein scans were also on Thursdays schedule assisting researchers comprehend how living in space impacts the human body.
NASA Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari are set to switch their U.S. spacesuits to battery power at 8:05 a.m. EST on Tuesday and invest six-and-a-half hours setting up a modification kit on the spaceport stations Starboard-3 truss structure. The brand-new hardware will enable the upcoming installation of a 3rd roll-out solar array increasing the stations power output and augmenting the existing solar selections.
The duo was signed up with by fellow station astronauts Tom Marshburn of NASA and Matthias Maurer of ESA (European Space Agency) for a spacewalk procedures review and conference with professionals on the ground. Marshburn and Maurer will help the spacewalkers in and out of their spacesuits, operate the Canadarm2 robotic arm, and monitor their external activities. Objective managers will talk about the spacewalk, as well as a second one prepared for March 23, live on the NASA television app and the site on Monday at 2 p.m. NASA TV starts its live spacewalk broadcast on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m