NASA Space Station Status Report 2 May, 2022 – Expedition 67 Crew Members Coming Home
Four astronauts who have been aboard the International Space Station since November continue to prepare for their return to Earth.
This comes at the same time as four new astronauts are beginning their mission and getting used to living and working aboard the orbiting lab.
Expedition 67 Commander Tom Marshburn is getting ready to hand over station control to Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Artemyev. The traditional change of command ceremony will take place Tuesday at 2:45 p.m. EDT live on NASA TV’s app and website, when the station’s nine flight engineers witness Marshburn handing over the station’s leadership role to Artemyev.
In the meantime, Marshburn and Flight Engineers Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer, are packing up and preparing for their return to Earth. The quartet will board the SpaceX Dragon Endurance later this week then undock from the Harmony module’s forward port ending their stay on the space station. Chari will command the ride back home when the foursome parachutes to a splashdown off the coast of Florida about a day after undocking.
Meanwhile, the station’s four newest crew members, who have been on the station less than a week, are kicking off their first science experiments while also getting up to speed with lab systems and operations.
NASA’s first time space-flyers Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins worked in the Columbus laboratory module on Monday and explored how microgravity affects their dexterous manipulation. NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren, on his second mission, collected and stored his blood and urine samples then spent the rest of the day on station familiarization and handover activities. ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti serviced life support equipment while also spending time adapting to life on the space station.
Artemyev, on his third space station mission, is about to take command of the Expedition 67 crew until late summer. Today, he worked on a pair of Russian experiments exploring future spacecraft and robotic piloting techniques, as well as effective ways to exercise in weightlessness. Flight Engineer Denis Matveev inspected the ISS Progress 80 cargo craft then continued cleaning up after April 28’s spacewalk to activate the European robotic arm. Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov swapped out a Russian computer before participating in more space exercise research at the end of the day.
On-Orbit Status Report
Payloads:
Cold Atom Lab (CAL): A crewmember performed a visual inspection of the CAL Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Jumper to check for leaks and reported the observed leakage. The MTL Jumper has been experiencing a small leak and periodic crew monitoring has been implemented while the ground assesses future remediation options. The CAL produces clouds of atoms that are chilled to about one ten billionth of a degree above absolute zero — much colder than the average temperature of deep space. At these low temperatures, atoms have almost no motion, allowing scientists to study fundamental behaviors and quantum characteristics that are difficult or impossible to probe at higher temperatures. In microgravity, researchers may be able to achieve even colder temperatures than what is possible on the ground and observe these cold atom clouds for longer periods of time.
Grip: Following a review of the Big Picture words and setup of the hardware, the crew performed Grip seated science-1 (Dynamics Seated) and seated science-2 (References Seated) sessions. The Grip experiment studies the long-duration spaceflight effects on the abilities of human subjects to regulate grip force and upper limbs trajectories when manipulating objects during different kind of movements: oscillatory movements, rapid discrete movements and tapping gestures.
Light Ions Detector for ALTEA (LIDAL): LIDAL was temporarily relocated to allow the upcoming Grip and GRASP sessions room to be performed. The capability of Anomalous Long-Term Effects in Astronauts (ALTEA) to measure the linear energy transfer (LET) of protons and helium and the kinetic energy of protons and heavy ions was upgraded by the addition of a new time of flight (TOF) system detector called LIDAL. LIDAL upgrades the ability of ALTEA to make measurements that can be converted, by dedicated software in real-time, into radiation risk coefficients – effectively enabling ALTEA to become the first ever dosimetric (risk meter) aboard the ISS.
Nutrition Monitoring for the International Space Station (NutrISS): The crew set up the NutrISS bioimpedance device and performed a measurement session with the device. They also filled out the questionnaire related to the session. Long-duration spaceflight induces relevant changes in body composition and a loss of body mass. In the NutrISS investigation, a periodic assessment of body composition (body weight, fat mass, and fat-free mass) during spaceflight aboard the ISS is carried out using a dedicated bio-impedance analysis device to allow for the measurement of long-term energy balance modification over time. It is hypothesized that an adjusted diet maintaining a near-neutral energy balance, and/or increasing protein intake can limit microgravity-induced bone and muscle loss.
Phospho-aging Mechanism of Accelerated Aging Under Microgravity (Phospho-aging): The crew performed blood and urine collections in support of the Phospho-aging investigation. Phospho-aging examines the molecular mechanism behind aging-like symptoms, such as bone loss and muscle atrophy, that occur more rapidly in microgravity. Using analysis of human premature-aging syndromes (progeria) in mouse models, scientists identified CalciProtein Particles (CPPs) as a pro-aging factor in mammals. CPPs behave like a pathogen, inducing chronic inflammation and systemic tissue damage that could be the mechanism behind accelerated aging in space.
Systems:
Spare Multiplexer/Demultiplexer (MDM) Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only memory (EEPROM) Refresh The MDM On-Orbit Tester (MOOT) is a collection of hardware and software that is used to perform testing and software changes to an uninstalled MDM. Today, the crew gathered required items and configured the MOOT, MDM, and laptop to complete a EEPROM refresh and checkout of two spare MDMs. The crew completed both refreshes nominally and finished the task by saving the results, tearing downing the worksite, and restowing the equipment.
Crew-3 Dragon Departure Preparations Activities: Today, the Endurance crew performed activities in preparation for Crew-3 undock and return, including Crew Dragon Emergency Hardware Transfer and Crew Dragon Suit Checkout. The Endurance crew also completed handover with the Freedom crew to familiarize the newly arrived crewmembers with living and working on ISS.
Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Functional Check: As part of regular maintenance, the crew activated the spare TOCA and cycled the Gas Mass Flow Controller to mitigate potential failure of the spare TOCA. TOCA primarily serves as a general indication of overall water quality of the Water Processor (potable water). The crew also tested the water samples for the presence of Coliform bacteria utilizing a Coliform test bag. The TOCA was restowed following the TOCA Functional Check.
Completed Task List Activities:
None
Today’s Ground Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
HRF Rack 2 Rack Power Down Commanding
PRO EXPRESS Rack Remote Desktop Commanding
Cold Atom Lab Ops Commanding and Downlink
Look Ahead Plan
Tuesday, May 3 (GMT 123)
Payloads:
BCM ROBoT test
Food Physiology Fecal collect
GRIP Supine session
MSG/Transparent Alloy cartridge and data exchange
MSRR/MSL Vacuum sensor R&R
Photocatalyst filter check
POLAR ISS/Crew Dragon review
Standard Measures Saliva and urine collection and Post Sleep Questionnaire
Veggie/XROOTS ops
Systems:
Resupply Air Tank Setup and Initiation
Change of Command Ceremony
Farewell Ceremony
Cygnus Cargo Transfer
ISS Crew Handover
Wednesday, May 4 (GMT 124)
Payloads:
Actiwatch doff
Astrobee OBT review
Cold Stowage DCB pack
GRASP prep
Food Physiology Fecal processing
Photocatalyst filter check
Standard Measures blood, Saliva and Urine collect
Rhodium Crystal Preservation
Systems:
Crew-3 Undock
Emergency Equipment Transfer
T2 Monthly Inspection
Thursday, May 5 (GMT 125)
Payloads:
Actiwatch setup/stow
Astrobee/ISAAC lab mapping with Astrobee flyer
BCM ROBoT test
ER2 ELC BIOS update
Food Physiology transfers
GRASP seated
Photocatalyst filter check (Ax-1/ISS)
Wireless Compose-2 BCG and questionnaire
Systems:
WHC Does Pump Inspection
OBT ISS Emergency Preparation
OGS AAA Filter R&R
Today’s Planned Activities:
All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.
Actiwatch Plus HRF Rack 2 Setup and Stow
CAL MTL Jumper Leak Check
Crew Alternate Sleep Accommodation Keep-Out Zone Check
COLUMBUS Bay 1, 2, 3 Clean-up
Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth
Installation of the DOSIS-3D passive detector packs in Columbus
Crew Dragon Tablet Stow and Sync
EHS TOCA PFU3 Functional Check
Grip Science Performance in Seated Position
HRF Generic MELFI Sample Operations
Handover of Increment 67 Crew
Light Ions Detector Move 2
MOOT Version 10.1 EEPROM Refresh and Checkout Gather
NUTRISS MO8 Questionnaire
First Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Setup & Measurement
Robotics On-board Trainer Setup
Photo/TV Node 2 Video Setup
Phospho-Aging HRF Centrifuge Frozen Blood Collection
Phospho-Aging Generic Urine Collection Male
Konstantin Chaykin Wristwatch Self-winding Performance Test
Prepare 2 Konstantin Chaykin wristwatch items for testing
Photocatalyst Filter Check
Victory Day photography
RS ZBook Handover
WHC Manual Fill Initiate
