Space Stations

NASA Space Station Status Report 5 December, 2022 – Following Spacewalk, a Rest for Four Crew Members

By SpaceRef Editor

Status Report

SpaceRef

December 5, 2022

Filed under Expedition 68, International Space Station, ISS, ISS On-orbit status, NASA

NASA Space Station Status Report 5 December, 2022 – Following Spacewalk, a Rest for Four Crew Members — NASA spacewalker Josh Cassada rides the Canadarm2 robotic arm carrying the roll-out solar array to its installation site on the Starboard-4 truss segment.

NASA

Four Expedition 68 crew members took Monday off following a busy weekend of spacewalk activities. The rest of the International Space Station crew focused on electronics, life support, and Orlan spacesuit maintenance.

NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio are relaxing today following a spacewalk on Saturday that saw the successful installation of a roll-out solar array on the station’s Starboard-4 truss segment. The duo then spent Sunday cleaning up after the spacewalk in the Quest airlock and discussing the results of the excursion with specialists on the ground. Flight Engineers Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) also took Monday off having assisted the spacewalkers over the weekend.

The next spacewalk is planned later this month to relocate a radiator from the Rassvet module to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin are replacing pumps inside their Orlan spacesuits today as they prepare for that spacewalk.

Flight Engineer Anna Kikina spent the day servicing a variety of electronics and life support hardware aboard the orbiting lab. She replaced gear and reconfigured cables then worked on the Nauka module’s ventilation system.

On-Orbit Status Report

USOS 3A ISS Roll Out Solar Array (IROSA) Install Extravehicular Activity (EVA): This past weekend on Saturday EV1 (Josh Cassada) and EV2 (Frank Rubio) conducted USOS EVA #82. The main goal of this EVA was to install and deploy the 3A IROSA and perform a 1B cable demate. Hatch opening occurred at 6:16 AM CT. The final Phase Elapsed Time (PET) from today’s EVA was 7 hours and 5 minutes and the crew completed the following objectives:

Release IROSA from FSE
Install IROSA on S4 3A Mast Canister
Connect IROSA Electrical Connectors
Deploy S4 3A IROSA
1B Cable Demate
Release FSE Restraint Bolts on 4A IROSA (Get-Ahead)

Payloads:

Kubik 5 and 6 Deinstall: Following the completion of the Osteogenic Cells experiment, the crew deinstalled Kubik 5 from COL1D1 and Kubik 6 from COL1D2, and stowed them. Exposure of the human body to microgravity conditions during long-duration spaceflight results in the loss of bone mass, especially in weight-bearing bones, with conditions resembling that of disuse osteoporosis. The general understanding of the underlying processes state that bone formation is decreased, whereas bone resorption remains unaltered, or is slightly increased. The main goal of the Osteogenic Cells investigation is to study whether the gravity response is restricted to a particular osteogenic cell type, and whether the composition of Extra-Cellular Matrix (ECM) affects, or even rescues, the gravity-response in the formation of bone cells (osteoblasts).

Systems:

Post EVA Activities: Today, the crew terminated charging on Li-Ion Batteries using EVA battery operations terminal. This is done in preparation for the upcoming 4A IROSA EVA. The crew also terminated the first cycle of Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Metal Oxide (METOX) regeneration. Following this, a second METOX regeneration cycle was initiated by baking out CO2 in the METOX regenerator oven.

Completed Task List Activities: