NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 20 May 2019 – Research A Variety of Space Biological Phenomena

The six residents aboard the International Space Station kicked off the workweek today exploring microgravity’s long-term impacts on biology and physics. The Expedition 59 crew is also ramping up for a fourth spacewalk at the orbital lab this year.
NASA is planning to send men and women to the Moon in 2024 and life science on the station will help flight surgeons keep lunar astronauts healthy. The space physics research will also provide critical insights to engineers designing future spacecraft and habitats for exploration missions.

Several dozen mice and their immune systems, which are similar to humans, are being continuously observed in specialized habitats. Flight Engineer Anne McClain tended to the mice today cleaning cages and restocking food in Japan’s Kibo laboratory module. Doctors are testing the hypothesis the immune response decreases in space and exploring advanced vaccines and therapies benefiting both astronauts and Earthlings.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague also researched a variety of space biological phenomena. Koch wrapped up a pathogen study today seeking to understand why virulence increases in microgravity. Hague cleaned up Veggie Ponds botany hardware in Europe’s Columbus laboratory module where small crops of edible plants are grown. He then photographed protein crystal samples in the afternoon for a student-designed investigation as Koch assisted him.

David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency recorded a video demonstrating Isaac Newton’s Second and Third Laws. The video will help young students understand how force and acceleration influence air and space missions. He also transferred data captured from tiny internal satellites exploring space debris cleanup technology.

Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin are getting ready for a spacewalk planned for May 29. The cosmonauts are resizing their spacesuits, inspecting the components and checking for leaks today. The duo will remove experiments, sample station surfaces and jettison obsolete hardware during their six-hour excursion.

On-Orbit Status Orbit

Multi-purpose Variable-G Platform (MVP) Cell-01: Over the weekend, the crew exchanged nutrients for the Cell-01 Experiment Modules and reinstalled them into the MVP. During the procedure, it was discovered that one of the new nutrient bags was defective and a new nutrient bag was retrieved to complete operations. The Cartilage-Bone-Synovium (CBS) Micro-Physiological System (MPS) using the MVP Cell-01 aboard the ISS studies the effects of spaceflight on musculoskeletal disease biology. Motivated by a disease called Post-traumatic Osteoarthritis in which a traumatic joint injury may lead to arthritis after loss of cartilage and bone, the ability of potential drugs to prevent the progression of this disease is tested on Earth and in space.

Micro-14: Over the weekend, the crew preserved processed Culture bags in preparation for return on SpX-17. Today, the hardware was removed from the Micro-Gravity Science Glovebox (MSG), completing Micro-14 mission Operations. The Micro-14 (Characterizing the Effects of Spaceflight on the Candida albicans Adaptation Responses) life science research mission will investigate and evaluate the responses of the Candida albicans microorganism to microgravity conditions and, in particular, to assess changes at the physiological, cellular, and molecular level and to characterize virulence factors.

ISS HERA (Hybrid Electronic Radiation Assessor): Over the weekend, the crew deactivated and stowed the hardware for the ISS HERA radiation assessor completing, a 40-day mission data-gathering period. ISS HERA refines data analysis and operational products that support future exploration missions. It uses an existing on-orbit radiation detection system developed for Orion and Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), modified to operate on the ISS. The investigation also serves an opportunity to evaluate this hardware in the space radiation environment prior to the EM-1 flight.

Circadian Rhythms: The crew downloaded Circadian Rhythm armband data in the morning, then doffed the hardware later in the day to completing a 24hr data collection. Circadian Rhythms investigates the role of synchronized circadian rhythms, or the “biological clock,” and how it changes during long-duration spaceflight. Researchers hypothesize that a non-24-hour cycle of light and dark affects crewmembers’ circadian clocks.

CASIS PCG 14 (Wisconsin Crystal Growing Contest-Wisconsin Space Crystals): The crew performed liquid extraction from the crystal growth sample bags and documented photos of each of the two PCG kits. Previous investigations have shown that crystals grow larger and with fewer imperfections in microgravity. The CASIS PCG 14 investigation has two goals: to explore closed-system crystallization of inorganic salts from aqueous solutions using evaporation facilitated by a desiccant, and to examine how well a previously optimized thermal-gradient inorganic salt crystallization procedure translates to other systems. Middle and high school students compete to grow the most perfect ground-based crystals, as judged by experts in crystallography, and those with the fewest imperfections then fly their experiments aboard the space station.

The ISS Experience: The crew performed a recording to demonstrate a crewmember start of the day and closing of the day’s activities.The ISS Experience creates a virtual reality film documenting daily life aboard the ISS. The 8 to 10 minute videos created from footage taken during the six-month investigation cover different aspects of crew life, execution of science aboard the station, and the international partnerships involved. The ISS Experience uses a Z-CAM V1 Pro Cinematic Virtual Reality (VR) 360-degree camera with nine 190° fisheye lenses.

Story Time From Space: The crew completed an educational recording event using acceleration and oscillator tube devices to demonstrate Newton’s second and third laws of motion in microgravity. Story Time From Space combines science literacy outreach with simple demonstrations recorded aboard the ISS. Crewmembers read five science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related children’s books in orbit, and complete simple science concept experiments. Crewmembers videotape themselves reading the books and completing demonstrations. Video and data collected during the demonstrations are downlinked to the ground and posted in a video library with accompanying educational materials.

Node 3 (N3) Common Cabin Air Assembly (CCAA) Water Separator (WS) Remove & Replace (R&R): In response to water carryover events in excess of six hours, the crew R&Rd the degraded CCAA WS in Node 3 today. The CCAA system is the primary component responsible for the control of temperature and humidity in the USOS segment. An air/water separator is part of this system and is required to control humidity in the ISS. The degraded unit was packed for return on the next available SpaceX vehicle for repair and refurbishment.

Completed Task List Activities:

Saturday
JSL panel audit
Miniature exercise device Surface Pro charge

Sunday
JAXA medical laptop cable connect

Monday
EDV stow
EMU Electrode Paste Audit
Wanted Poster – Self wetting swabs
ITCS Jumper Cable Install

Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
JEMRMS SFA extract
JEMAL vent

Look Ahead:
Tuesday, 05/21 (GMT 141):

Payloads:
Time Perception (ESA)
Rodent Research Dissections (NASA)
Veggie PONDS Deact (NASA)
Genes in Space-6 Freeze and Fly Run part 2 (NASA)
MicroAlgae deploy and stow (NASA)
ISS Experience Firmware update and H/W stow (NASA)
Food Acceptability (NASA)

Systems:
JEM condensate sample purge

Wednesday, 05/22 (GMT 142):

Payloads:
BioLab Experiment container install (ESA)
Actiwatch Plus chk (NASA)
BCM Journal (NASA)
JAXA Mouse Mission H/W gather
Rodent Research Dissections (NASA)
Repository urine collections (NASA)
GIS-6 Biomolecular Sequencer stow (NASA)
Team Task Switching (NASA)
MicroAlgae (NASA)

Systems:
SODF update

Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Recycle Tank Fill Part 3
Standard Measures Post-sleep Questionnaire
MICRO ALGAE Culture Bag Daily Deploy
JAXA Mouse Mission Item Gathering
SPHERES Battery Setup
DC1 BK-3M oxygen tank pressure checks
Transfer compartment BK-3M oxygen tank pressure checks
Circadian Rhythms data d/l and Armband doffing
Newton’s Law Payload Review
Work with SS replaceable components
ISS HAM Service Module Pass
Newton’s Law Payload Crew Conference
XF305 Camcorder Setup
JAXA Mouse Mission Preparation for Maintenance
Newton’s Law Maintenance Work Area Preparation
JAXA Mouse Mission Cage Maintenance for Micro-G
Newton’s Law Acceleration and Oscillation Experiments
Water Recovery and Management (WRM) Waste Water Bus (WWB) Combine
Condensate transfer from Lab Condensate tank to WPA Waste Water Tank
Micro-14 Preservation-MSG
BRTA battery install
JEM Airlock Depressurization
Spacesuit fitting
SPHERES Battery Swap
Condensate direct transfer from Lab condensate tank to WPA waste water tank.
JAXA Mouse Mission Cage Maintenance for Micro-G
ORLAN #5 + BSS leak check, valve c/o
JAXA Mouse Mission Cage Maintenance for 1G
Veggie Ponds Veggie Facility Clean
ORLAN #4 + BSS leak check, valve c/o. Specialist conference
JAXA Mouse Mission Cage Maintenance for 1G
Water Recovery and Management (WRM) Waste Water Bus (WWB) Split
In-Flight Maintenance Node 3 Common Cabin Air Assembly (CCAA) Water Separator R&R
JAXA Mouse Mission Maintenance Closeout
JEM Airlock Vent
SPHERES Battery Stow
Microgravity Science Glovebox Power Down
ISS Experience Node 2 Setup
VZAIMODEYSTVIYE-2. Science ops run
MATRYOSHKA-R. TRITEL hardware performance monitoring
JEM Airlock Vent Confirmation
SPHERE SmoothNav Downlink [Aborted]
PPS MK II installation
“ISS DC1 Egress in ORLAN” air-locking procedure review
LSG Work Volume Deploy
Circadian Rhythms Armband Stow
Remove portions of the Stall in support of Node 3 CCAA Access
In-Flight Maintenance Node 3 Common Cabin Air Assembly (CCAA) Water Separator R&R
IMS update
ISS Experience Recording Preparation
Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) Rack Doors Open
ISS Experience Routine Recording
Combustion Integrated Rack Manifold #2 Bottle Replacement
Behavioral Core Measures Journals Entry
ISS Experience Hardware Relocate
Combustion Integrated Rack GC Bottle Replacement
Exercise data ОСА downlink
Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)Rack Doors Close
Fiber Optic Production Preform Repair Placeholder
Retrieval of PCG-14 Hardware from MELFI
Inspection of Sample Bags for Crystal Growth
Extraction of Liquid from Sample Bags
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) – JEM
In-Flight Maintenance Node 3 Common Cabin Air Assembly (CCAA) Water Separator R&R
Interest Photos and Recorded Video for Downlink
URISIS hardware setup
Replace Stall following Node 3 CCAA Maintenance
Assist in replacing Stall following Node 3 CCAA Maintenance
MICRO ALGAE Culture Bag Daily Stow