Crew Studies Health in Space and Counts Down to Next Spacewalk
The Expedition 46 crew of two U.S. astronauts, one British astronaut and three Russian cosmonauts practiced their emergency response skills today in conjunction with the Mission Control Centers in Houston and Moscow. The station residents also continued more human research to improve crew health while moving along with preparations for a Feb. 3 spacewalk.
The crew members spent an hour today conducting an emergency drill to practice communication, familiarize themselves with safety gear and procedures and memorize evacuation routes. After the drill the crew called down to ground teams to review their actions and results.
Meanwhile, international space science is ongoing as scientists and doctors explore the long term effects of living in space on a crew member’s body which could also benefit life on Earth. Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineers Tim Kopra and Tim Peake were conducting more eye checks for the Ocular Health vision study. Kelly also took a blood sample for stowage in a science freezer. Kopra and Peake were back at work exploring how an astronaut’s lungs adapt to microgravity for the Airway Monitoring experiment.
Two cosmonauts, Sergey Volkov and Yuri Malenchenko, are getting tools ready for the next spacewalk scheduled at the beginning of February. The spacewalkers will work outside in space to install hardware and science experiments on Russian modules.
