Blogs

Lighting Effects:  A 51S crewmember conducted a Visual Performance Test by stowing the hardware in their crew quarters, setting the light to the correct mode, turning all other light sources in the crew quarters off, and performing a Numerical Verification Test and a Color Discrimination Test. The completed tests were photographed and downlinked. The Lighting …

After a trio of spacewalks this month, including the final one conducted last Friday by Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA, the Expedition 53 crew returned to a schedule of full-time science this week. Today, the crew explored how lighting aboard the International Space Station affects their performance and health. One …

Engineers lifted and installed a third umbilical on the mobile launcher at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a fit check. The tower on the mobile launcher will be equipped with several connections or launch umbilicals like this one. After the fit check was completed, the umbilical was lowered down and will be installed …

USOS Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) #46:  Randy Bresnik (as EV1) and Joe Acaba (as EV2) successfully performed US EVA #46 with a Phased Elapsed Time (PET) of 6 hrs 49 min. The primary goals of the EVA were to Remove and Replace (R&R) a fuse in the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) Enhanced ORU Temporary …

Expedition 53 Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA completed a 6 hour, 49 minute spacewalk at 2:36 p.m. EDT. The two astronauts installed a new camera system on the Canadarm2 robotic arm’s latching end effector, an HD camera on the starboard truss of the station and replaced a fuse on the …

Two NASA astronauts switched their spacesuits to battery power this morning at 7:47 a.m. EDT aboard the International Space Station to begin a spacewalk planned to last about 6.5 hours. Live coverage is available on NASA Television and the agency’s website. Expedition 53 Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA will replace a …

Circadian Rhythms:  Yesterday a crewmember instrumented themselves with Thermolab Double Sensors and mounted the Thermolab Unit to their belt, which 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 non-24-hour …

Four Expedition 53 crewmates huddled together and made final preparations the day before the third and final spacewalk planned for October. Meanwhile, NASA’s commercial partner Orbital ATK has announced Nov. 11 as the new launch date for its Cygnus cargo carrier to the International Space Station. Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Joe Acaba are …

The Expedition 53 crew trained for a medical emergency in space today after spending the morning on weekly housecleaning tasks. Afterward, two astronauts reviewed procedures and checked their tools ahead of Friday’s spacewalk. Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin joined NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba for a routine training session to handle a medical emergency …

Miniature Exercise Device (MED-2):  Today crewmembers set up cameras in Node 3 to capture video from multiple views of the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) and MED-2 hardware.  They also applied body markers, and performed exercises before transferring the video for downlink.  The ISS’s exercise equipment is large and bulky, while the MED-2 aims to …