Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) Zero Robotics (ZR): Today the crew provided support for a SPHERES ZR Challenge competition between students from High Schools around the world. The SPHERES-Zero-Robotics investigation establishes an opportunity for high school students to design research for the International Space Station (ISS). As part of a competition, students write …
Students on Earth are remotely testing algorithms on a pair of internal satellites as part of a competition aboard the International Space Station today. Meanwhile, the Expedition 54 crew is packing up the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft for its Saturday departure and conducting biomedical operations. Commander Alexander Misurkin and Flight Engineer Joe Acaba are monitoring …
Airway Monitoring Measurement Operations: Using the Portable Pulmonary Function System (PPFS) for guidance, today two crewmembers performed two different measurement protocols; the low Nitric Oxide (NO) protocol which determines how much NO is exhaled with the respiration, and the high NO protocol, which determines how much NO is diffused into the blood. The protocols were …
The Expedition 54 crew aboard the International Space Station is training for this weekend’s departure of the SpaceX Dragon commercial cargo craft. The crew is also exploring regenerative life support systems and how microgravity affects breathing. NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Scott Tingle began their day training and reviewing for Saturday’s remotely controlled release of …
Robotics controllers are getting ready to uninstall the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft from the International Space Station on Friday before releasing it for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean Saturday. The Expedition 54 crew today is also continuing to study how living in space affects biology and introducing space travel concepts to students on Earth. …
Human Research Program (HRP) Collections (Biochemical Profile, Repository): Over the weekend, a 52S subject completed his Flight Day (FD) 120 urine sample collections to support the Biochemical Profile and Repository experiments. The samples were placed in the Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). The Biochemical Profile experiment tests blood and urine samples …
Amyloid: Today the crew retrieved the final set of Amyloid samples from the measurement experiment unit on the Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) and placed them in a Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) where they will remain until they are returned on SpaceX-13. Amyloid fibrils prepared in the microgravity environment of …
NanoRacks External Platform (NREP)-3 Payload Swap: Today crewmembers extended the JEM A/L slide table into the JEM Pressurized Module (JPM) and exchanged payloads on NREP by removing the External Platform Module 2 (Charge Injector Device), External Platform Module 4 (Dependable Microprocessor) before installing the External Platform Module 5 (Cavalier) on NREP. The slide table was …
Robotics controllers have completed the science cargo transfers from the rear of the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship, also known as its trunk. Dragon is due to depart the International Space Station Jan. 13 and return to Earth. Over the holidays, the ground robotics teams remotely operated the Canadarm2 to remove a pair of new external …
Circadian Rhythms: Today a 53S crewmember instrumented himself with Thermolab Double Sensors and mount the Thermolab Unit to their belt, and began 36 hours of monitoring for the Circadian Rhythm investigation. Circadian Rhythms investigates the role of synchronized circadian rhythms, or the “biological clock,” and how it changes during long-duration spaceflight. Researchers hypothesize that a …
