As their analysis actions continued, the Expedition 73 crew had a busy week on the Worldwide House Station with the departure of a cargo car and preparations for the arrival of two extra.
Orbital remark
Japan Aerospace Exploration Company (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui, an Expedition 73 flight engineer, hammed it up with youngsters from his house nation this week aboard the Worldwide House Station (ISS).
“I used to be in a position to speak with the kids of Takacho in Hyogo Prefecture by way of HAM! That is the primary time speaking with Japanese youngsters throughout a mission!” mentioned Yui in a social media submit on Thursday (Sept. 11).
Novice radio has been utilized in Earth orbit because the early Eighties aboard the U.S. area shuttle. Crew members can use it to attach with folks all all over the world with out interfering with different communications between Earth and the area station.
“I gained vitality from interacting with the kids, and it helped me get by the next work easily! Thanks very a lot!” mentioned Yui.
Science standing
Among the many analysis that was performed by the Expedition 73 crew aboard the area station this week was:
CIPHER — NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman and Jonny Kim centered on research referring to eyesight and stability, utilizing VR goggles, electrodes and different specialised optical gear to gauge how spaceflight impacts their sense of stability and the form of the retina, amongst different adjustments to the flexibility to see and regular themselves.
Cardman additionally used a ultrasound to observe indicators of arterial stiffness and adjustments in her cardiac perform, whereas Kim processed bone stem cell samples for his or her later return to Earth as a part of a examine into bone density loss throughout long-duration area missions.
Plant Cell Division and Cell Biology Experiment Facility — Yui ready and positioned underneath examine tobacco plant and algae cell samples so as to add to the expertise and data base of rising crops on future missions to the moon and Mars.
BioNutrients-3 — Fincke used a analysis incubator to check methods to make use of yeast, yogurt and samples of the fermented milk drink kefir to provide extra nutritional vitamins and vitamins to learn future crews’ well being. The astronaut confirmed off a tray of purple kefir used within the experiment; you may see a photograph of it above.
Station retaining
The Expedition 73 crewmates additionally took half in actions to keep up the area station’s methods and put together for future analysis.
Progress MS-30 (91P) — Having accomplished repacking the Russian cargo craft with refuse final week, the crew noticed the departure of Progress MS-30 on Tuesday (Sept. 9).
Progress M-32 (93P) — Cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky educated for the arrival and docking of Progress M-32, which is scheduled to dock to the aft port of the station’s Zvezda service module on Saturday (Sept. 13).
NG-23 “S.S. Willie McCool” — The crew additionally started preparations for the arrival of Northrop Grumman’s first “XL” Cygnus cargo craft, which is scheduled to be captured with the Canadarm2 robotic arm and berthed to the Earth-facing port on the Unity node on Wednesday (Sept. 17).
Astronaut exercise
Expedition 73 flight engineer Mike Fincke, a NASA astronaut, mentioned life on orbit with MIT’s Expertise Overview Journal throughout an interview on Tuesday (Sept. 9).
“I I believe me and my crewmates on board Expedition 73 listed here are very centered and devoted to science,” mentioned Fincke. “We’re supporting the scientists on the bottom, so we go above and past to present them finest outcomes that we are able to. I take nice satisfaction in that.”
You’ll be able to watch the total interview above.
By the numbers
As of Friday (Sep. 12), there are 7 folks aboard the Worldwide House Station: Expedition 73 commander Sergey Ryzhikov of the Russian area company Roscosmos; fellow cosmonauts Alexey Zubritsky and Oleg Platonov; Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke of NASA; and Kimiya Yui of JAXA, all flight engineers.
There are two docked crew spacecraft: SpaceX’s Dragon “Endeavour” connected to the zenith port of the Concord module and Roscosmos’ Soyuz MS-27 connected to the Earth-facing port of the Prichal node.
There are two docked cargo spacecraft: Roscosmos’ Progress MS-31 (92P) docked to the space-facing port of the Poisk module and SpaceX’s CRS-33 Dragon spacecraft is docked to the ahead port of Concord Node 2.
As of Friday, the area station has been constantly crewed for 24 years, 10 months and 10 days.
