NASA Space Station Update 9 May, 2022 – Crew Gets Light-Duty Monday

The seven Expedition 67 crew members are enjoying an off-duty day today following the change of command of the station and the departure of the SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts last week.
After a weekend that included housekeeping tasks and station maintenance, Expedition 67 Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren performed a filter check on the Photocatalyst experiment on Monday. The Photocatalyst investigation, which was brought to the station by the Ax-1 mission, analyzes the photocatalyst’s effect onboard the International Space Station and its ability to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from cabin air. This could improve conditions for crew members on future spaceflight missions, including long-duration missions.

Flight Engineer Bob Hines performed checks on the Cold Atom Lab. The Cold Atom Laboratory (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.

Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins performed equipment maintenance and prepared to work on the GRASP experiment with Bob Hines on Tuesday, while ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti worked on a nutritional assessment.

In the station’s Russian segment, ISS Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineers Sergey Korsakov and Denis Matveev worked on equipment inspections and maintenance, prepared for a computer scan, and downlinked exercise data from the station.