NASA Space Station Status Report 24 August, 2022 – Crew Psychology and Other Life Science Research

Life science continued dominating the research schedule aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday to benefit humans living on and off the Earth.  The seven Expedition 67 orbital residents explored how living in microgravity affects tissue regeneration, crew psychology, and the human digestion system.

Learning to heal wounds in space is critical as NASA and its international partners plan crewed missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Four station astronauts have been partnering together this week for the skin healing study taking place inside the Kibo laboratory module. Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins, all from NASA, with Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency), are studying surgical techniques such as biopsies, suture splints, and wound dressing, inside Kibo’s Life Science Glovebox.

Scientists on Earth seek to identify the molecular mechanisms that occur during tissue regeneration in weightlessness. Observations may offer advanced therapies and provide insights into how space-caused accelerated skin aging affects an astronaut’s healing properties. The biomedical experiment may also contribute to better wound healing techniques on Earth.

Three of the astronauts also had time today for a cognitive assessment in between the skin healing study. Lindgren, Hines, and Watkins all took turns practicing the simulated robotic capture of a spacecraft on a computer to understand how an astronaut might perform stressful activities during future space missions. One of six tests that are part of the Behavioral Core Measures human research experiment, the robotics session is helping researchers reliably assess adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions that astronauts may experience during a long-term spaceflight.

Two cosmonauts conducted ultrasound scans of their digestive system after having breakfast during Wednesday morning. Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev are exploring this week how microgravity affects the digestion process with potential applications for Earth-bound conditions. Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov spent the day testing the commands and operations on the European robotic arm attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads:

Behavioral Core Measures (BCM): The crew performed several BCM research sessions consisting of a set of 12 runs/tests each. The Standardized Behavioral Measures for Detecting Behavioral Health Risks during Exploration Missions (Behavioral Core Measures) experiment initially examined a suite of measurements to reliably assess the risk of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders during long-duration spaceflight. This experiment also evaluated the feasibility of those tests within the operational and time constraints of spaceflight for two crewmembers. Subsequent subjects perform a subset of the original activities to measure the performance capabilities of deconditioned crewmembers to complete either individual or crew telerobotic operations within the first 24 hours after landing. This information could help characterize what tasks a crewmember, who has spent months in weightlessness, can reasonably be expected to perform after landing on the surface of Mars.

eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System (XROOTS): Photos were taken of the plants growing in the XROOTS experiment, which is currently in day 17 of the ~30-day growth cycle. The XROOTS investigation uses hydroponic and aeroponic techniques to grow plants without soil or other growth media. Video and still images enable evaluation of multiple independent growth chambers for the entire plant life cycle from seed germination through maturity. Results could identify suitable methods to produce crops on a larger scale for future space missions.

International Commercial Experiment (ICE) Cube: Experiment cube #11 was used to support the Code4Space challenge demonstration. ICE Cube #11 flew to the ISS with the winning submission of the Code4Space competition from a team of sixth graders from Switzerland. The team designed and programmed a Space-Bounce-Ball that consists of a microcontroller embedded in a foam ball for an astronaut to throw at a target while on the ISS. Measurements from the microcontroller such as acceleration, time, and number of bounces are transmitted to a laptop computer on Earth and compared with the results from a duplicate experiment conducted on the ground.

ISS Ham Pass: The crew participated in an ISS Ham pass with Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN. Some of the questions asked by the students included how much the astronauts get to talk to their families, if the astronauts can see hurricanes and storms develop from space, and how high the ISS can fly. Since the earliest space station expeditions, ISS Ham Radio has allowed groups of students in schools, camps, museums, and planetariums to hold a conversation with the people living in space. As the ISS passes overhead, students have about 9 minutes to ask crewmembers 10 to 20 questions.

Solid Combustion Experiment Module (SCEM): The crew removed the combustion chamber door, inspected the area around the extrusion fastener, and then reassembled the system. The SCEM facility has been most recently used to support the Fundamental Research on International Standard of Fire Safety in Space – Base for Safety of Future Manned Missions (FLARE) investigation. FLARE, a JAXA investigation, explores the flammability of materials in microgravity. Various solid fuels are burned under different conditions and observed inside a flow tunnel. Microgravity significantly affects combustion phenomena, and results are expected to contribute to the improvement of fire safety in space.

Wireless Compose-2 (WiCo-2): The crew participated in a Ballistocardiography session using the SmartTex-2 shirt. Ballistocardiography looks at body motion related to the pumping of blood by the heart. A questionnaire was also filled out to give feedback on the session, the experiment data was transferred, and the configuration of the Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) was checked. The main scientific goal of the WiCo-2 investigation is to provide a flexible and adaptable wireless network infrastructure to conduct and execute low-power, low-weight, and wireless experiments on the ISS. For this demonstration, WiCo-2 operates several experiments, including an experiment to examine the impact of the space environment on the cardiovascular system. Additionally, WiCo-2 demonstrates newly developed impulse radio ultra-wide-band (IR-UWB) hardware to enable precise localization applications and to analyze the energy harvesting potential on the ISS.

Systems:

Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Manual Fill Initiate & Terminate: As part of regularly scheduled preventive maintenance, the crew performed a manual WHC flush tank fill. By using a post-flight analysis bag to capture any pressure relief, also known as a burp, the crew depressurized the flush water tank and the water valve block to protect the dose pump. This pump is critical as it injects pre-treat required to properly recycle waste urine.

Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Water Recovery System (WRS) Sample Analysis & Data Record: The crew performed an analysis of the Water Processing Assembly (WPA) using the TOCA. The TOCA unit oxidizes organic carbon species present in the water to carbon dioxide gas and measures the concentration using nondispersive infrared spectroscopy. Analysis of the potable water using the TOCA occurs on a weekly basis. 

Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Recycle Tank Operations: Today, the crew setup the recycle tank to drain to the brine processor using the brine processor transfer hose. As part of the setup, the crew removed the used brine processor bladder and installed a new, empty bladder into the brine processor. Ground specialists then performed the tank drain using the Urine Transfer System (UTS), and the crew changed out the offload EDV. Lastly, the crew configured the Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) fill drain valve and connected the UTS transfer compressor hose for nominal processing operations. 

Completed Task List Activities:

• None

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

• WRS CWC-I Fill Support [Partially Complete]
• Crew Dragon Freedom System Checkout
• Regenerative ECLSS Recycle Tank Drain Support
• ACS MCS Configuration for Reboost

Look Ahead Plan

Thursday, August 25 (GMT 237)
Payloads:

• AWP
• ESA Powerbank Stow

Systems:

• FD/ISS Crew Conference

Friday, August 26 (GMT 238)
Payloads:

• AstroPi Lens Exchange
• ManD Print Removal

Systems:

• EVA Battery Operations Terminal Charge Initiation
• Dragon/LAB SSC Swap
• ACS Oxygen Manual Valve Open

Saturday, August 27 (GMT 239)
Payloads:

• XROOTS Fluid Recover, Nutrient Fill, and Plant Check

Systems:

• Crew Off-Duty

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

• Standard Measures Post-Sleep Questionnaire
• In-Flight Maintenance (IFM) ПрК IWIS RSU Cable Reconfiguration
• Brine Processor Bladder Changeout
• WiCo -2 SmartTex-2 Shirt Donning & Experiment Execution
• SCEM Fastener Loosen
• ESA Powerbank Management
• WiCo-2 Questionnaire
• WHC Manual Fill Initiate & Terminate
• WiCo-2 SD Card Data Transfer
• Regenerative ECLSS Recycle Tank Drain
• Wireless Compose-2 LED Check
• BCM ROBoT-r Research Testing
• Health Maintenance System (HMS) ISS EveryWear Nutrition Tracking
• XROOTS Plant Photos
• EHS TOCA WRS Sample Analysis & Data Record
• ICE Cubes Media Set and Experiment Cube #11 Event Preparation
• ICE Cubes Code4Space Message Recording
• UTS Offload EDV Swap
• CWC-I Relocation
• Regenerative ECLSS Recycle Tank Fill
• Water Recovery System CWC-Iodine Fill Initialization & Termination [Aborted]
• ISS Ham Columbus Pass Kenwood
• EHS Air Quality Monitoring (AQM) Powercycle
• Glacier Desiccant Swap