Today’s Advanced Exercise, Physics Research Benefits Earth and Space Industries
Exercise and physics research were the top scientific duties aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday advancing human health and industries both on the ground and in space. The Expedition 74 crew members also continued working on spacesuits and practiced an emergency drill.
Doctors continuously monitor astronauts’ health using sensors, tests, and sample collections to understand the long-term effects of spaceflight, helping to keep crews fit for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond while also advancing medical treatments on Earth. A key part of this effort is exercise to prevent space-caused muscle and bone loss. During workouts and daily activities, astronauts periodically wear the sensor-packed Bio-Monitor vest and headband that monitors heart health, respiratory health, and more for up to 48 hours. The data can be monitored by doctors on Earth in real-time or downloaded to the ground for later review.
NASA Flight Engineer Chris Williams put on the Bio-Monitor wearables early Wednesday beginning a two-day health monitoring session. Afterward, he exercised on the advanced resistive exercise device (ARED)—that mimics free weights on Earth—then jogged on the COLBERT treadmill helping counter the effects of microgravity and providing doctors insight into his heart, lung, muscle, and bone health in weightlessness. The Bio-Monitor, a Canadian Space Agency-designed biomedical device, has been in operational use aboard the station since January 2019.
Williams later assisted NASA Flight Engineer Zena Cardman inside the Quest airlock as she installed charged lithium-ion batteries into a pair of spacesuits.
Station Commander Mike Fincke worked throughout Wednesday servicing a variety of exercise gear and science hardware. He first installed kinematics hardware on the ARED that monitors the muscle and bone forces crews experience when exercising in space. Researchers use the visual data to adjust workout programs to maximize crew fitness in microgravity. Next, he swapped a pair of hard drives and injected gas into the experimental Zero Boil-Off Tank being tested for its ability to preserve cryogenic fluids in spacecraft fuel tanks.
Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) started his shift inside the Kibo laboratory module checking for gas leaks inside combustion research hardware. Next, he powered on a fluorescence microscope to observe changes in the formation of flat liquid crystal films in microgravity. Results from the study may advance screen displays for touchpads and instrumentation panels benefitting both Earth and space hardware.
At the end of their shift, all four astronauts joined the cosmonauts from Roscosmos—Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev, and Oleg Platonov—and conducted an emergency drill. The orbital septet practiced their responses to unlikely events such as a depressurization, a chemical leak, or a fire onboard the orbital outpost. The seven crewmates used computer tablets and reviewed the procedures and communication protocols they would use in coordination with mission controllers on the ground.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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