Today’s research aboard the International Space Station is primarily focusing on how plants react and how medicine works in space. The Expedition 55 crew and robotics controllers are also continuing cargo operations inside and outside the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft. Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold participated today in the Plant Gravity Perception experiment, one of several …
Metabolic Tracking (MT): The crew set up MT hardware and materials for thawing and inoculation. They then injected the thawed inoculum into multiwell BioCells, which were inserted into the NanoRacks Plate Reader-2. NanoRacks Plate Reader-2 is a laboratory instrument designed to detect biological, chemical or physical events of samples in microtiter plates. The Metabolic Tracking …
The Expedition 55 crew explored a wide variety of life science today studying how different biological systems are affected by long-term exposure to microgravity. The multi-faceted space residents observed human genetic and tissue samples, rodents and fruit flies aboard the orbital laboratory today. Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold started his morning gearing up the student-designed Genes …
Human Research Program (HRP) Collections (Biochemical Profile and Repository): A 54S crewmember collected urine samples for his FD15 sessions of the Biochem Profile and Repository investigations. The Biochemical Profile experiment tests blood and urine samples obtained from astronauts before, during, and after spaceflight. Specific proteins and chemicals in the samples are used as biomarkers, or …
The fully-staffed Expedition 55 crew worked throughout the International Space Station today exploring how microgravity affects a variety of phenomena including biology and physics. The six long-term space residents also practiced a simulated emergency today to maintain their safety skills and awareness. Flight Engineer Drew Feustel started Tuesday collecting a urine sample and stowing it …
Plant Gravity Perception (PGP): The crew began the final Plant Gravity Perception experiment run on Saturday with three of the Experiment Containers maintaining power. For this investigation, normal and mutated forms of thale cress, a model research plant, are germinated to support the study of the plants’ gravity and light perception. Results provide insight into …
Mobile Servicing System (MSS) SpX-14 Operations: Overnight, the Robotics ground controllers released the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) from the SpaceX-14 Dragon Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture (FRGF). They performed a survey of the Dragon trunk and then unstowed the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) from Mobile Base System (MBS) Power Data Grapple Fixture 2 …
SpX-14 Mission: After yesterday’s successful capture and berthing of Dragon, the crew ingressed the vehicle early this morning and began cargo transfer operations. Once the crew finishes unloading the center stack, they will transfer SpX-14 cold stowage into ISS assets and begin installation and activation of several payloads delivered by the vehicle. Mobile Servicing System …
The SpaceX Dragon space freighter is open for business today as the Expedition 55 crew begins unloading and activating new time-sensitive space experiments aboard the International Space Station. Astronaut Scott Tingle opened Dragon’s hatch this morning and was the first to enter the spaceship. He and fellow NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold began …
SpX-14 Mission: At 5:40 am CDT this morning, the ISS crew used the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) to capture the Dragon vehicle. This capture marked the first use of Forced Based Capture, a software enhancement to the Latching End Effector (LEE) that reduces loads on the snare cables, during SpaceX operations. Ground specialists …
