ISS On-Orbit Status Report

Microbial Tracking-2 (MT-2): Over the weekend, a 53S subject completed saliva sample collections in support of the MT-2 investigation. The MT-2 series continues the monitoring of the types of microbes that are present on the ISS. It seeks to catalog and characterize potential disease-causing microorganisms onboard the ISS. Crew pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight samples and …

Russian Extravehicular Activity (EVA) #44: Alexander Misurkin (as EV1) and Anton Shkaplerov (as EV2) performed RS EVA #44 with a Phased Elapsed Time (PET) of 8 hrs 13 min. During the EVA, the cosmonauts removed and replaced the [OHA] antenna high frequency receiver on Service Module (SM) aft.  Microbial Tracking-2:  A 53S crewmember completed body …

NanoRacks DreamUp Xtronaut Crystal Growth (DreamXCG):  The crew used hot water from the PWD to dissolve sugar crystals in two pouches and later transfer sugar water into the pouches with seeded dowels. This investigation teaches students about the effects of microgravity on crystal formations using near-identical flight kits flown and operated aboard the International Space …

Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) SmoothNav: The crew set up the SPHERES work area to activate and check out the hardware and EXPRESS laptop computer (ELC) before conducting the SmoothNav experiment run. SmoothNav develops an estimation algorithm aggregating relative state measurements between multiple, small, and potentially differently instrumented spacecraft. The algorithm obtains …

Personal CO2 Monitor Sensor Calibration: Today the crew will perform a single point calibration of the Personal CO2 monitors using and iPad and readings from a Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) sample port. The Personal CO2 Monitor demonstrates a system capable of unobtrusively collecting and downlinking individual crew members’ CO2 exposure for weeks to months. This …

USOS ExtraVehicular Activity (EVA) 48 status:  Over the weekend, ground teams were able to identify a root cause and a fix for the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Latching End Effector (LEE) anomaly seen after USOS EVA 47.  Because of this, the EVA to return the LEE to the configuration prior to EVA 47 …

European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS) Preparation for Plant Gravity Perception Operations: To prepare the EMCS for the Plant Gravity Perception investigation, the crew replaced the empty EMCS Air Mix Supply Module located on the lower left side of the EMCS holding structure with a full Air Mix Module and then opened the EMCS Gas Valves …

FemtoSat Assembly and Deployment: Using onboard components printed from the Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF)-Manufacturing Device, today the crew demonstrated FemtoSat deployment trajectories. This experiment consists of a 3D printed deployer, four FemtoSats and a 0.050” L-wrench. The four FemtoSats will be loaded in the deployer and locked in place with the L-wrench.  When the L-wrench …

Arthrospira-B (Batch Culture): Today concluded the incubation of three Arthrospira-B experiment containers (ECs), one that began two weeks ago, and two that began last week. The ECs were removed from the BioLab Incubator and disassembled inside of the BioLab Glovebox, prior to the samples being inserted into the Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS …

USOS Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) #47:  Today, Mark Vande Hei (as EV1) and Scott Tingle (as EV2) successfully completed USOS EVA #47 with a Phased Elapsed Time (PET) of 7 hrs 24 min. The primary goal of the EVA was to swap the Latching End Effector (LEE) from the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) …