On Thursday, the Expedition 72 crew conducted important scientific work aboard the International Space Station (ISS), preparing an experiment for deployment outside the station while also studying the effects of space on cellular health, including stress and tissue damage. Meanwhile, astronauts continued preparations for an upcoming spacewalk aimed at relocating hardware on the orbital outpost.
Robotic Maneuvers and Material Exposure
NASA astronauts Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineers Don Pettit and Butch Wilmore opened the NanoRacks Bishop airlock and prepared its removable module for the Euro Materials Aging (EMA) experiment. On Monday, the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm will detach Bishop, carrying the EMA experiment, from the Tranquility module and move it toward the Columbus laboratory module. There, the EMA will be installed on the Bartolomeo research platform on the station’s exterior, where it will be exposed to the harsh conditions of space.
EMA will expose a variety of materials to the space environment to learn how to improve the development of space hardware and applications for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The external investigation will operate outside Columbus for about a year.
Cellular Research in Microgravity
NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague continued his cellular immunity research processing blood samples in the Harmony module. He removed the samples from the Kubik research incubator after overnight stowage and spun them inside the Human Research Facility’s centrifuge. Afterward, Hague stowed the blood specimens inside a science freezer then powered down and uninstalled Kubik. Doctors on the ground will analyze the samples to understand the effects of living in space on the human immune system.
Spacewalk Preparations and International Collaboration
All four NASA astronauts relaxed and took a half-a-day off at the end of their shifts on Thursday. The quartet will have a busy day on Friday as they prepare the Bishop airlock and the Euro Materials Aging experiment for their robotic move next week.
Roscosmos Flight Engineers Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner continued their preparations for a spacewalk planned to begin at 10:10 a.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 19, for science and robotics hardware transfers. The cosmonauts wore their pressurized Orlan spacesuits and practiced maneuvering to the Poisk airlock where they will exit into the vacuum of space. Fellow cosmonaut and flight engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov joined the duo afterward and reviewed procedures to depressurize and repressurize the airlock when the spacewalkers exit and enter the station.
Ovchinin and Vagner also had time for a cardiac study wearing electrodes and arm cuffs measuring their heart activity and blood pressure. Gorbunov focused on orbital plumbing tasks before the spacewalk reviews. At the end of his shift, he joined his cosmonaut crewmates for a test to learn how international crews and mission controllers from around the world can communicate better.
Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.
Follow us on Google and Google News.