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    SpaceX Dragon Prepped for Earth Splashdown: Science, Bacteria, and Space Plants Aboard

    By NASA1 Comment3 Mins Read
    NASA Astronauts Suni Williams and Tracy C. Dyson Look out the Cupola
    Expedition 71 Flight Engineers (from left) Suni Williams and Tracy C. Dyson look out the cupola, the International Space Station’s “window to the world,” while orbiting 264 miles above the Atlantic Ocean east of the Lesser Antilles group of islands. Credit: NASA

    The Expedition 72 crew is busy preparing completed science experiments for their return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. Alongside packing, the International Space Station (ISS) residents have been conducting research on antibiotic-resistant bacteria and setting up equipment for space-based plant experiments.

    Transferring and Loading Cargo

    NASA’s Station Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Don Pettit began their day by transferring research samples from the station’s science freezers into portable POLAR freezers. These will be placed aboard the departing Dragon spacecraft. Later, Williams teamed up with NASA Flight Engineer Nick Hague to load and securely strap down additional cargo inside Dragon, ensuring it is ready for retrieval and analysis on Earth.

    Dragon is scheduled to undock from the Harmony module’s forward port at 11:05 a.m. EST on Thursday for a splashdown off the coast of Florida the following day. NASA’s live coverage of undocking and departure begins at 10:50 a.m. EST on NASA+.

    Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov
    Expedition 72 Commander Suni Williams (left) from NASA and Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov from Roscosmos wear personal protective equipment shortly after the hatches opened to the newly arrived SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. Crew members wear facemasks and eye shields when entering a cargo craft for the first time to shield against potential dust or debris that may have dislodged during the spacecraft’s ascent to orbit. Dragon had automatically docked to the International Space Station’s forward port on the Harmony module just over two hours before this photograph was taken. Credit: NASA

    Studying Antibiotic Resistance in Space

    Pettit later spent the rest of his shift with NASA Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore processing bacteria samples in the Kibo and Harmony modules to understand why some pathogens are more potent in the microgravity environment. The duo was using genetic analysis techniques to identify the antibiotic resistant organisms and help researchers protect crew health on long-term space missions. Those samples will also be collected and packed inside Dragon this week for return and analysis back on Earth.

    Space Botany and Satellite Deployment

    Williams set up research components inside the Advanced Plant Habitat to support an upcoming experiment to understand how different water levels affect plant growth in space and the microbes that live on plants. Results may lead to improved methods for growing food on Earth and in space. Hague began installing a small satellite deployer on Kibo’s multipurpose experiment platform that will soon be placed into the vacuum of space to release a series of CubeSats.

    Mount Kilimanjaro Surrounded by Clouds From Space Station
    Mount Kilimanjaro, surrounded by clouds and the highest mountain in Africa, is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 261 miles above the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania. Credit: NASA

    Maintenance and Monitoring on the Roscosmos Segment

    Working in the Roscosmos segment of the space station, Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov used different wavelengths to image natural and human-caused conditions on Earth and then jogged on a treadmill for a fitness evaluation. His fellow cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner spent their day monitoring carbon dioxide levels and servicing the atmospheric purification system in the orbital lab’s Roscosmos segment among other life support tasks.

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