ISS On-Orbit Status Report

Synthetic Bone BioCell Operations: The crew completed microscopy operations for Synthetic Bone and then took a sample from each well on the Synthetic Bone Multiwell BioCell and exchanged the fluids with media in each well.  The samples were placed in a Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI).  This experiment uses facilities aboard …

67 Progress (67P) Undock: 67P undocked from the Service Module (SM) aft port at 7:03 PM CST on Wednesday evening.  The Deorbit burn was completed at 10:10 PM CST.  Spaceflight-induced Hypoxic/ROS Signaling (APEX-05):  The crew harvested thale cress from all 20 Petri plates in which the plants have been growing in the Veggie facility for …

67 Progress (67P) Undock: This evening, 67P is scheduled to undock from the Service Module (SM) aft port at 7:03 PM CST. Arthrospira-B (Batch Culture) Assembly: Four Arthrospira experiment containers were removed from the Biolab Incubator to exchange the reservoirs inside the Biolab.  Following the exchange of the reservoirs, the ECs were reinstalled back onto …

Rodent Research 6 (RR-6):  In support of the on-going RR-6 investigation, the crew removed the mice and restocked the rodent habitats with new food bars in addition to cleaning the lids and interiors cages of the habitats. The Rodent Research-6 (RR-6) mission uses mice flown aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and maintained on Earth …

APEX-05 Operations:  Over the weekend, the crew photographed all of the APEX-05 petri plates, which includes twenty petri plates in the Veggie facility and four spares secured to the Advanced Biology Research Facility (ABRS) photo-grid on the maintenance work area. Today the crew took additional images of the four spare petri plates.  When plants are …

Human Research Program (HRP) Collections – Cell-Free Epigenome: With operator assistance, a 53S subject conducted blood sample collections to support the Cell Free Epigenome investigation. The blood samples were processed in the centrifuge and placed in the Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI).  In this study, blood samples are collected from astronauts …

Marrow: Upon wakeup a 53S crewmember collected breath and ambient air samples. With operator assistance, the subject collected blood samples to support the Marrow investigation. The blood samples were processed in the centrifuge and placed in the Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI).  The Marrow investigation looks at the effect of microgravity …

Zebrafish Muscle 2: Following the fixation and stowing of experiment units (EUs) from Group A earlier this week, today the crew performed fixation on the EUs from Groups B and C and then stowed them in the refrigerator of the Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI). The results from Zebrafish Muscle 2 …

53S Docking:  53 Soyuz launched on Sunday, December 17th, and arrived at the ISS early this morning.  The Soyuz brought Anton Shkaplerov, Scott Tingle, and Norishige Kanai, and docked at 2:39 AM CST with hatch opening at 4:55 AM CST.  This begins the 54-6 stage, and returns the ISS crew to its nominal complement of …

Lighting Effects: Upon wakeup, the 52S subject provided a daily sleep log entry to track his sleep patterns and wakefulness. This entry supports a two week long sleep shift session that began GMT 340 and ends tomorrow. The Lighting Effects investigation studies the impact of the change from fluorescent light bulbs to solid-state light-emitting diodes …