NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 11 May, 2021 – Medical Emergency Training

Human research took precedence aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday as the Expedition 65 crew explored how weightlessness affects the immune system.
The orbital residents also trained for a medical emergency and ensured station systems continued operating in tip-top shape.

NASA Flight Engineers Mark Vande Hei and Megan McArthur worked in the Kibo laboratory module researching possible age-associated effects of the human immune system. The Celestial Immunity study observes donor cells in Kibo’s Life Science Glovebox for insights into new vaccines and drugs which may advance the commercialization of space.

McArthur started her day with NASA Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough collecting blood samples, spinning them in a centrifuge and stowing them in a science freezer for later analysis. Kimbrough then spent the rest of Tuesday replacing fans that cool science racks in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module.

Station Commander Aki Hoshide started the fan replacement work before swapping out life support components in the Tranquility module. At the end of the day, he and ESA Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet stowed hardware in Tranquility’s end cone. Pesquet also packed the Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter with trash and discarded gear ahead of its departure in a few weeks.

Vande Hei joined his Soyuz MS-18 crewmates Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov and trained for the unlikely event of a medical emergency in space. The trio reviewed medical hardware, performed simulated chest compressions, and practiced communication and coordination.

Novitskiy also transferred cargo from the ISS Progress 77 (77P) resupply ship before studying planetary spacecraft piloting techniques. Dubrov worked on plumbing tasks inside the 77P before contributing to the Russian future pilot study.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads

AC Touch: Per standard procedure, the crew touched both of the coated and uncoated coupons for this long-term investigation. Crew then took photos of the hardware. Boeing Environment Responding Antimicrobial Coatings tests is an antimicrobial coating on several different materials that represent high-touch surfaces. Some microbes change characteristics in microgravity, which could create new risks to crew health and spacecraft systems as well as creating the possibility of contaminating other planetary bodies. The samples will remain in space for approximately six months then return to Earth for analysis.

Celestial Immunity: The crew set up the appropriate hardware, performed sample 3 operations for cell culture set beta, and initiated the cell culture experiment gamma ops. With the exception of last week’s alpha set of operations, Celestial Immunity operations have been going well. This project seeks to gain a broad understanding of how gravity affects overall human immune function and potentially uncover novel pathways of immune function that can be exploited to develop better vaccines and immunobiologics for human use. The project will build on earlier studies that evaluated lymphocyte (a type of white blood cell) function in microgravity. The project will also evaluate whether gravity-regulated immune pathways are affected by age by examining cells from both young adult and elderly donors in parallel.

ISS HAM pass: The crew participated in an ISS HAM pass with Collège Descartes, Antony, France. The College Descartes is a public general school with 700 students aged from 10 to 15. The ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) project is supported by 30 students within the school, aged from 13 to 15. ISS Ham Radio provides opportunities to engage and educate students, teachers, parents and other members of the community in science, technology, engineering and math by providing a means to communicate between astronauts and the ground HAM radio units.

Standard Measures: The crew performed several sample collections and answered a questionnaire related to the Standard Measures experiment. The aim of the investigation is to ensure consistent capture of an optimized, minimal set of measures from crewmembers until the end of the ISS Program in order to characterize the adaptive responses to and risks of living in space. Among other things, the ground teams perform analyses for metabolic and chemistry panels, immune function, microbiome, etc. These measures populate a data repository to enable high-level monitoring of countermeasure effectiveness and meaningful interpretation of health and performance outcomes, and support future research on planetary missions.

Systems:
EXPRESS Rack 1 AAA Fan Replacement and Repair: As a continuation of the AAA troubleshooting, the crew removed the back panel of the rack, and replaced the AAA (Avionics Air assembly) high-speed cooling fan with a spare unit. The AAA fan circulates cooled air in the internal rack volume which subrack payloads can use for cooling. EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) Racks are multipurpose payload rack systems that store and support research aboard the ISS. The EXPRESS Racks support science experiments in any discipline by providing structural interfaces, power, data, cooling, water, and other items needed to operate science experiments in space.

Node 3 Endcone Stowage and NRAL Stowage Operations: Today crew returned hardware that was used in multiple systems and maintenance operations last week to the Node 3 Endcone. Crew also gathered hardware from the Nanorack Airlock in order to back fill long term spares of multiple pieces of hardware.

Node 3 Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Gas Trap Plug Replacement: Today, Crew performed a replacement of the Gas Trap Plug on the Node 3 Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Pump Package Assembly (PPA). The EMU Gas Trap removes particulate contamination from the water flow to the EMU Water Pump and concentrates and directs free gas in the coolant loop to the EMU Water Separator. The EMU Gas Trap is considered an ORU and can be changed out on-orbit. The EMU Gas Trap lifetime is limited by the number of hours it has run with the fan.

US Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Retractable Equipment Tether (RET) Inspection: Crew inspected for damaged cords on mounted and unmounted RETs. Each RET cord must be inspected prior to EVA use. Instructions are included to tape unmounted RETs if required. After inspection/taping of unmounted RETs, Crew places the RETs in protective Bag per Stowage Note to isolate RETs from potential damage until ready for EVA use.

Completed Task List Activities:

None
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

SSRMS Direct Drive Test
COL-CC Prime MPLS maintenance
PRO CHeCS Commanding
Look Ahead Plan:

Wednesday, May 12 (GMT 132)
Payloads:

AC Touch
AWP
Celestial Immunity
PCRF relocation
Repository
Standard Measures
STFS-8
T2AR
Systems:

Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Gas Trap Remove and Replace (R&R)
JLP1A2 Audit
Dragon 22 Prepack
Treadmill 2 (T2) Augmented Reality Sidekick Charge
Thursday, May 13 (GMT 133)
Payloads:

Celestial Immunity
HRP blood setup
Ryutai IPU cable replacement
Systems:

ISPR and IPU HRDL Adapter Cable Setting between Ryutai Rack and iAPS
Dragon 22 Prepack
Environmental Health System (EHS) Acoustic Monitor Setup
Friday, May 14 (GMT 134)
Payloads:

AC Touch
Astrobee/SoundSee
Celestial Immunity
ESA EPO
Food Acceptability
Food Physiology
MISSE MSC pack
Repository
Standard Measures
Systems:

In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Node 2 Smoke Detector Relocate
In-Flight Maintenance Node 2 Common Cabin Air Assembly (CCAA) Water Separator R&R
Treadmill 2 (T2) Yearly Maintenance
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Antimicrobial Coatings Documentation Photos
Antimicrobial Coatings Touch
Cold Atom Lab Science Module Move
Cold Atom Lab Science Module Return
Celestial Immunity Thaw and Centrifuge
Celestial Immunity Crew Handover
Celestial Immunity LSG Staging
Celestial Immunity MELFI Sample Insertion
Celestial Immunity MELFI Sample Retrieve
Celestial Immunity Plate Third Sampling
Celestial Immunity Treatment and Sample
Acoustic Monitor Battery Swap
Acoustic Monitor Setup for Crew Worn Measurements
Emergency CTB Replacement
Discharge PBAs with low pressure
EXPRESS Rack AAA Fan Replacement
Express Rack 1 R&R Hardware Gather
US Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Retractable Equipment Tether (RET) Inspection
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Questionnaire
Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Test
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Operator
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Setup and Frozen Blood Collection Subject
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Conclude and Stow
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Configuration
HRF Generic HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection Spin Conclude
HRF Generic Frozen Blood Collection Hardware Setup
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Insertion
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Insertion Operations
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval And Insertion Operations
HRF Generic Urine Collection Female
HRF Generic Urine Collection Male
ISS HAM Columbus Pass Kenwood
Lab ExPRESS-1 Rack Rotate Down
Lab ExPRESS-1 Rack Rotate Up
LSG Primary Crew Restraint Unfold
Node 3 Endcone Stowage Replace
Node 3 Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Gas Trap Plug Replacement
Node 3 Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Gas Trap Plug Replacement
Hatch Close
Hatch Open
Nanoracks Airlock Stowage Operations
CHeCS Emergency Health Maintenance System Contingency Drill Training
Photo T/V (P/TV) Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Exercise Video Setup
Photo T/V (P/TV) Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Exercise Video Stow
Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) in Columbus
Public Affairs Office (PAO) High Definition (HD) Config Columbus Setup
Standard Measures Body Sampling Collection
Standard Measures Body Sampling Stow
Standard Measures Body Sampling Survey
Standard Measures Fecal Collection
Standard Measures Fecal Collection Stow
Standard Measures Pre-sleep Questionnaire
Transfer Cygnus Cargo Operations