NASA astronaut and Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Nicole Mann is pictured in her Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or spacesuit, throughout her very first spacewalk on January 20, 2023. She and fellow spacewalker Koichi Wakata (out of frame) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency installed a modification kit on the International Space Stations starboard truss structure that will enable the future setup of the orbiting labs next roll-out solar variety. Credit: NASA
Following 3 days of innovative bone repair studies while preparing yourself for an approaching spacewalk, the Expedition 68 astronauts are now tidying up. Meanwhile, the 3 cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) continued their area physics and Earth images work and likewise kept orbital laboratory systems.
NASA Flight Engineers Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio are tidying up biology research study hardware and completing sample processing after three complete days of bone recovery research study. The duo worked inside the Kibo laboratory module servicing the samples and after that stowing them into science freezers. Those samples will be loaded on a future SpaceX Dragon cargo mission for return and then evaluated and compared to manage samples in labs on Earth. The two astronauts likewise cleaned Kibos Life Science Glovebox and its elements where the extensive bone examination work occurred this week.
Cassada also dealt with area farming on Thursday, collecting leaves from thale cress plants housed inside the Advanced Plant Habitat for stowage and analysis on Earth. He later tended to tomato plants growing inside the Veggie space botany facility for the Veg-05 experiment. Both studies are taking location inside the Columbus laboratory module.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata explored ways to enable on-demand production of nutrients for astronauts on long-term objectives to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The technology demonstration utilizes crafted microbes, or yeast, to ensure a safe and easy food production environment in area and balance out the destruction of nutrients stowed over long periods.
Two spacewalkers will exit the Quest airlock in their Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs), or spacesuits, to end up installing an adjustment package on the starboard truss structure. The hardware setup job will all set the space station for its next roll-out solar range.
Leader Sergey Prokopyev continued more space physics experiment runs on Thursday as he checked out how clouds of highly charged particles, or plasma crystals, act in microgravity. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin of Roscosmos spent his day on life support maintenance before partnering with fellow cosmonaut Anna Kikina for ultrasound eye scans. Kikina resumed her Earth observations utilizing ultraviolet imaging hardware to acquire a map of the nighttime glow of Earths environment.
She and fellow spacewalker Koichi Wakata (out of frame) of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency set up a modification kit on the International Space Stations starboard truss structure that will make it possible for the future installation of the orbiting labs next roll-out solar array. Cassada likewise worked on space agriculture on Thursday, collecting leaves from thale cress plants housed inside the Advanced Plant Habitat for stowage and analysis on Earth. The hardware installation task will all set the space station for its next roll-out solar array. Commander Sergey Prokopyev continued more space physics experiment runs on Thursday as he checked out how clouds of extremely charged particles, or plasma crystals, act in microgravity.