Soaring Higher: Space Crops, Manufacturing Advances, and Orbital Boosts at the ISS

Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Sergey Prokopyev is pictured in his Orlan spacesuit during a six-hour and 35-minute spacewalk to install orbital debris shields and relocate a portable workstation on the International Space Station. The European robotic arm extends from the Nauka science module to which the Prichal module and the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship are attached. Credit: NASA

Botany and physics topped the research schedule as spacewalk cleanup duties continued aboard the International Space Station on Friday, August 11. The Expedition 69 crew also focused on life support maintenance as a U.S. cargo craft fired its engines to boost the orbital outpost.

Sustaining crews independently of cargo missions and taking advantage of microgravity for better manufacturing techniques are key targets for NASA’s and its international partners’ research programs. Friday’s science specifically looked at growing crops in space and advancing manufacturing techniques.

Plant Studies and Manufacturing Techniques

NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio set up seed bags for the Plant Habitat-03B study to understand how characteristics of plants grown in space change from one generation to the next. Results may inform ways to grow repeated generations of space crops to support future crewed missions. UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi worked in the Microgravity Science Glovebox servicing samples to learn how to manufacture superior graphene aerogel in microgravity. The SUBSA-μgGA physics study seeks to benefit Earth and space industries for better power storage, environmental protection, and chemical sensing.

UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi sets up physics research hardware in the Destiny laboratory module’s Microgravity Science Glovebox. The investigation seeks to create a superior graphene aerogel, a synthetic material with high porosity and low density, in microgravity benefitting both Earth and space industries such as power storage, environmental protection, and chemical sensing. Credit: NASA

Life Support Maintenance

The duo also assisted NASA Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg who worked throughout Friday swapping life support gear in the Tranquility module. A failed heat exchanger was removed and a new one was installed then connected to new low temperature loop hoses. NASA Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen aided his crewmates on Friday photographing Alneyadi’s research work and helping Hoburg during his life support maintenance. Bowen later removed sensors that measured his blood pressure and downloaded the data to doctors on the ground.

Spacewalk Cleanup and Tools Stowage

Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin continued cleaning their spacesuits and stowing tools and accessories following Wednesday’s spacewalk to install orbital debris shields and relocate a portable workstation. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev assisted with the spacewalk cleanup work finalizing operations with the European robotic arm and stowing medical kits on Friday.

Expedition 69 Flight Engineers Dmitri Petelin (top) and Sergey Prokopyev (center), both from Roscosmos, are pictured in their Orlan spacesuits during a six-hour and 35-minute spacewalk to install orbital debris shields and relocate a portable workstation on the International Space Station. The European robotic arm extends from the Nauka science module to which the Prichal module and the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship are attached. Credit: NASA

ISS Reboost and Altitude Adjustment

The Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft’s delta velocity thruster fired at 10:35 a.m. EDT Friday for 22 minutes, 48 seconds in a reboost of the International Space Station. The planned maneuver was designed to further refine the phasing for the Roscosmos Progress 85 cargo spacecraft launch on Tuesday, August 22, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and its docking to the station Thursday, August 24. It was one of two scheduled reboosts to target the proper trajectory for the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-24 launch and two-orbit rendezvous to the orbiting complex on September 15, as well as the Soyuz MS-23 undocking and landing on September 27.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo craft is pictured moments away from being captured by the Canadarm2 robotic arm controlled by NASA astronaut and Expedition 69 Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg from inside the International Space Station on August 4, 2023. Credit: NASA

The reboost also continued the certification of the use of Cygnus as a second spacecraft currently capable of conducting such a maneuver. The Cygnus reboost increased the station’s altitude by 3/10 of a mile at apogee and 2.8 miles at perigee and put the space station in an orbit of 262.5 x 257.6 statute miles.

Preparations for SpaceX Crew-7 Mission

Crew members who will soon fly aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission will enter quarantine Friday in one of the major milestones before they head to the launch site in Florida to start their mission to the International Space Station. The company’s Falcon 9 rocket is targeted to launch Crew-7 no earlier than 3:49 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 25 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy.