Mycological Evaluation of Crew Exposure to ISS Ambient Air (Myco): Shortly after wakeup, Kelly took body samples for the Myco investigation and then inserted them into a Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) for return to Earth. Analysis of the samples will focus on microflora, particularly fungi, which may cause opportunistic infections …
Astronauts Studying Immune System to Keep Crews Healthy
The Expedition 46 crew members participated in immunology research today helping scientists learn to keep astronauts healthy on longer and farther space missions. The crew also continued more vision checks and explored heart health. Commander Scott Kelly, British astronaut Time Peake and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko each participated in a different experiment looking at the immune …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 02/8/16
Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) Troubleshooting: Peake successfully performed troubleshooting steps for the accessibility issue that has prevented mating of a hose between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) ELF and the Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) for cooling. He connected the cooling water hose between the MTL connection on the MSPR2 and the ELF. The ELF …
Crew Starts Week with Spacesuit Work and Vision Checks
The Expedition 46 crew members kicked off their work week today with a series of physics experiments and life science studies. The crew also worked on U.S. and Russian spacesuits and continued packing trash inside the Orbital ATK resupply ship. British astronaut Tim Peake wrapped up maintenance work on the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace which will …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 02/5/16
Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock Pressurization and Leak Check: Kelly opened the JEM Airlock inner hatch and extended the Slide Table into the JEM. Peake then removed Cyclops from the Slide Table and stowed it for future use. Russian Pilot-T Experiment: Kelly performed a session of the Russian experiment Pilot-T today. The goal of …
Pluto: Ultraviolet Amazement
Eric Schindhelm is a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. He supported the Pluto system encounter in summer 2015 as part of the Atmospheres team for New Horizons. I was very fortunate to participate in the New Horizons Pluto encounter last summer, supporting the Atmospheres science theme team. I arrived at …
Life Science Studies for Crew at End of Week
The Expedition 46 crew members are wrapping up their work week on different types of research including botany, bone loss and pilot testing. The crew also checked for pressure leaks, worked on life support gear and continued cleaning up after a spacewalk. Plants are being grown on the International Space Station so future crews can …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 02/4/16
Node 3 Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Repair: Kelly and Kopra replaced the Fan Motor Controller (FMC) on the Node 3 CDRA which had failed on January 19th. In addition to the FMC change out, the crew took advantage of the CDRA configuration and also replaced a faulty Secondary Heater Controller, an Air Selector Valve …
Spacewalkers Clean Up as Crew Works on Life Support Gear
Two cosmonauts are cleaning up today after a successful spacewalk on Wednesday. The other crew members are working on life support gear and taking out the trash. Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Sergey Volkov completed the third spacewalk of Expedition 46 after installing hardware and science gear and conducting experiments. Today the duo are cleaning …
ISS Daily Summary Report – 02/3/16
Russian Segment (RS) Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #42: Today, Malenchenko and Volkov successfully completed RS EVA #42. Duration of the EVA was 4 hours and 45 minutes. The crew performed the following tasks: Samples from DC-1 EV Hatch 1 external surface and SM Window #8 cover drive location in support of TEST Experiment. Thumb Drive …