Heart scans, 3D printing, and fire safety were the top research topics aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The Expedition 70 crew also spent its day on a variety of scientific maintenance and cargo activities.
Astronauts Loral O’Hara and Satoshi Furukawa kicked off their day continuing more experimental work for the CIPHER suite of 14 human research investigations. O’Hara from NASA led the cardiac portion of the biology study scanning the chest of Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) with the Ultrasound 2 device. Doctors on the ground observed the downlinked data for insights into heart health in space.
O’Hara then moved on and uninstalled robotic surgery demonstration hardware from an EXPRESS rack for return to Earth on a future mission. At the end of the day, she swapped out samples and research components supporting a space fire safety experiment inside the Combustion Integrated Rack. Furukawa checked out the operation of a free-flying camera robot then reconfigured the Kibo laboratory module to accommodate new cargo from an upcoming resupply mission.
Commander Andreas Mogensen from ESA (European Space Agency) spent most of his day setting up the Metal 3D printer in the Columbus laboratory module. The device is testing the ability to print parts in space reducing the need to depend on resupply missions or pack spare parts on future exploration missions. NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli worked inside the Tranquility module throughout Wednesday replacing orbital plumbing components.
Two cosmonauts, Konstantin Borisov and Nikolai Chub, tested a specialized suit that may speed up a crew member’s adjustment to Earth’s gravity after living in space for several months or longer. The lower body negative pressure suit is designed to counteract the tendency of body fluids to pool in the upper body due to the lack of gravity. Chub later continued unpacking the new Progress 87 resupply ship while Borisov synched station cameras to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) then serviced an oxygen generator.
Veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko worked during the morning inspecting structures inside the Zvezda service module. During the afternoon, the five-time station resident checked seat shock absorbers inside the Soyuz MS-24 crew ship then performed a systems check on the Progress 87 with the vehicle’s hatch closed.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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