This nighttime photograph shows the Mediterranean Sea ringed by the coastal city lights of Morocco and Algeria on the African side and Spain on the European side. The city lights extending to the Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean are also prominent. The International Space Station was orbiting 261 miles above the Balearic Sea off the coast of Mallorca at the time of this photograph on July 27, 2023.
The seven-member Expedition 69 crew conducted a wide variety of experimental work on Tuesday, August 15, including more life science and physics research and installing new science hardware. The maintenance duties aboard the International Space Station (ISS) included lab stowage work and orbital plumbing tasks.
A Collaborative Day of Research and Maintenance
The astronauts dedicated their day to assisting one another in diverse space research activities and lab maintenance. NASA Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg initiated his tasks by exchanging samples within the Microgravity Science Glovebox. This was done for a space manufacturing study, and he received assistance from UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi.
Subsequently, Hoburg assisted NASA Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen in loading the NanoRacks External Platform inside the Kibo laboratory module’s airlock. This allowed for science experiments to be exposed to the extreme conditions of outer space. Alneyadi concluded his day in the Tranquility module, where he replaced components in the station’s bathroom, which is also referred to as the Waste and Hygiene Compartment.
The Strait of Hormuz connects the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above on August 14, 2023. In the right foreground, is the Soyuz MS-23 crew ship docked to the Prichal docking module. At bottom left, is a portion of the Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter and one of its cymbal-shaped UltraFlex solar arrays.
Stowage and Equipment Upgrades
Hoburg concluded his day in the Quest airlock installing a new overhead stowage platform. Bowen and Alneyadi started the work first removing and transferring the old stowage platform. The platform replacement work increases the equipment stowage volume inside Quest.
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio also contributed to the Quest’s advancements earlier in the day. He installed a battery charger along with new components that power the spacesuits to sustain astronauts during spacewalks. Rubio wrapped up his day in the Kibo module, organizing and stowing hardware to make space for impending activities coordinated by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).
Health and Earth-Observation Research
Heart research was on the Roscosmos work schedule for Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev as he attached sensors to himself for a study measuring his cardiac performance in microgravity. Commander Sergey Prokopyev installed and configured hardware to image Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in the ultraviolet wavelength. Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin started his day checking for leaks between the ISS Progress 84 cargo craft and the Poisk module. In the afternoon, Petelin swapped cargo between Poisk and the Zarya module to accommodate the next Soyuz crew to visit the station in mid-September.
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