Space life

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is pictured inside the cupola, the space station’s “window to the world,” as the orbiting lab flew above southeastern England. The Expedition 68 crew kicked off the work week preparing for a U.S. cargo mission delivering new science experiments and unpacking a recently arrived resupply ship. The International Space Station residents also picked a tomato crop today while working on a new toilet. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter is targeting a launch to the space station at 5:50 a.m. EST on Sunday, Nov. 6 . It will arrive for a robotic capture at 5:50 a.m. on Nov. 8, carrying about 8,200 pounds of research gear, crew supplies, and station hardware. Some of the experiments arriving inside Cygnus will explore 3D bioprinting of human tissue, the impact of microgravity on ovaries , and growing repeated generations of space crops. NASA Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada trained on a computer today to monitor Cygnus’ automated approach ...

The ISS Progress 82 cargo craft, packed with three tons of food, fuel, and supplies, is pictured shortly after docking to the space station’s Poisk module. Life science, space gardening, and physics filled the Expedition 68 crew’s research schedule at the end of the week aboard the International Space Station . Meanwhile, three tons of new cargo are being unpacked after its arrival overnight. A host of biomedical studies have been underway this week on the orbiting lab as scientists on the ground explore what happens to the human body when living in weightlessness. Insights help astronauts stay fit and healthy beyond Earth’s gravity and provide an array of solutions and innovations improving life for those back on Earth. NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada took charge of eye scans on Friday imaging the retinas of crewmates Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Mann then assumed control of the medical imaging hardware and scanned ...

The trash-filled ISS Progress 80 cargo craft undocks the space station on Oct. 23, 2022, making way for the arrival of the ISS Progress 82 resupply ship. NASA Television, the agency’s  website  and the  NASA app now are providing live coverage of the docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft to the  International Space Station . The uncrewed Progress 82 launched on a Soyuz rocket at 8:20 p.m. EDT (5:20 a.m. Baikonur time), Tuesday, Oct. 25, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Learn more about station activities by following the  space station blog ,  @space_station  and  @ISS_Research  on Twitter, as well as the  ISS Facebook  and  ISS Instagram  accounts. Get weekly video highlights at:  http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/ Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here:  www.nasa.gov/subscribe from Space Station https://ift.tt/BMYA3GS

The trash-filled ISS Progress 80 cargo craft departs the space station on Oct. 23, 2022, to make way for the arrival of the ISS Progress 82 resupply ship. A Roscosmos space freighter is due to arrive at the International Space Station tonight and replenish the Expedition 68 crew. While they wait for the space delivery, the orbital residents stayed busy throughout Thursday working on more eye and vein scans, a plant habitat, and a spacesuit. At 10:49 p.m. EDT tonight, two cosmonauts will be on duty when the ISS Progress 82 resupply ship docks to the orbiting lab’s Poisk module . Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin will be inside the Zvezda service module monitoring the Progress 82’s rendezvous and docking. A few hours after the vehicle arrives and the pressure equalizes with the station, the duo will open the hatches and begin offloading about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies. Prokopyev and Petelin called down to mission controllers during Thurs...

The ISS Progress 82 cargo craft blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazkakhstan beginning a two-day trip to the space station. Credit: RSC/Energia A Roscosmos resupply ship is in orbit today chasing the International Space Station for a Thursday night docking. Meanwhile, the seven Expedition 68 crew members scanned their veins, studied plasma physics, reviewed U.S. cargo mission procedures, and practiced controlling a new robotic arm on Wednesday. Three tons of food, fuel, and supplies are packed inside the ISS Progress 82 cargo craft and orbiting Earth headed for the station’s Poisk module where it will dock at 10:49 p.m. EDT on Thursday. The Progress 82 blasted off from a chilly, cloud-covered Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8:20 p.m. on Tuesday. Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin will be on duty in the Zvezda service module monitoring the Progress during its automated approach and docking and will be on standby to take manual control ...

The Progress 82 cargo craft lifted off at 8:20 p.m. EDT on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: Roscosmos/NASA TV. The uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 82 is safely in orbit headed for the  International Space Station  following launch at 8:20 p.m. EDT (5:20 a.m. Baikonur time) Tuesday, Oct. 25, on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The resupply ship reached preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas as planned on its way to meet up with the orbiting laboratory and its Expedition 68 crew members. Progress will dock to the space-facing side of the Poisk module two days from now, on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 10:49 p.m. EDT Live coverage  on NASA TV of rendezvous and docking will begin at 10:15 p.m. EDT. Progress will deliver almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies to the International Space Station. Learn more about station activities by following the space...

The Progress 82 cargo craft is seen on the launchpad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: Roscosmos/ NASA TV. NASA Television, the agency’s  website  and the  NASA app now are providing live coverage of the launch of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft to the  International Space Station . The uncrewed Progress 82 is scheduled to lift off at 8:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 25 (5:20 a.m. Baikonur time Oct. 26), on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Progress will dock to the space-facing side of the Poisk module two days later, on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 10:49 p.m. EDT. Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog , @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts. Get weekly video highlights at: http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/ Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here: www.nasa.gov/subscribe fro...

The Progress 82 cargo craft stands atop its rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad in Kazakhstan during pre-launch processing. Credit: RSC/Energia A new resupply mission stands ready to launch from Kazakhstan tonight to the International Space Station . As the seven Expedition 68 crewmates await their space delivery they tended to vegetables, scanned each other’s eyes, tested robotic inventory scanning, and explored plasma physics. A rocket with the ISS Progress 82 cargo craft atop is counting down to its lift off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome at 8:20 p.m. EDT today to the orbiting lab. Filled with about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies to replenish the orbital residents, the Progress 82 will take a two-day trip to the space station and automatically dock to the Poisk module at 10:49 p.m. EDT on Thursday. NASA TV will broadcast the events live on the agency’s app and website with launch coverage beginning at 8 p.m. on Tuesday and docking coverage at 10:15 p....

The International Space Station is pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around of the orbiting lab that took place on Nov. 8, 2021. This evening, the International Space Station ’s Progress 81 thrusters fired for 5 minutes, 5 seconds in a Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) to provide the complex an extra measure of distance away from the predicted track of a fragment of Russian Cosmos 1408 debris. The thruster firing occurred at 8:25 p.m. EDT and the maneuver had no impact on station operations. Without the maneuver, it was predicted that the fragment could have passed within about three miles from the station. The PDAM increased the station’s altitude by 2/10 of a mile at apogee and 8/10 of a mile at perigee and left the station in an orbit of 264.3 x 255.4 statute miles. Learn more about station activities by following the  space station blog ,  @space_station  and  @ISS_Research  on Twitter, as well as the  ISS...

NASA astronaut Nicole Mann poses inside BEAM, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, during cargo activities aboard the space station on Oct. 17, 2022. The next cargo mission to resupply the Expedition 68 crew is ready to launch to the International Space Station on Tuesday evening. In the meantime, the seven orbital lab residents worked on a host of human research studies and serviced a pair of spacesuits to start the work week. The ISS Progress 82 cargo craft stands atop its rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan counting down to its liftoff at 8:20 p.m. EDT on Tuesday. The Roscosmos resupply ship will orbit Earth for two days before docking to the Poisk module at 10:49 p.m. on Thursday. NASA TV , on the agency’s app and website, begins its live launch broadcast at 8 p.m. on Tuesday and the docking activities beginning at 10:15 p.m. on Thursday. Commander Sergey Prokopyev and Flight Engineer Dmitri Petelin joined each other on Monday and practiced remotely control...

Oct. 23, 2022: International Space Station Configuration. Three spaceships are docked at the space station including the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance, the Soyuz MS-22 crew ship and the Progress 81 resupply ship. The uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 80 spacecraft undocked from the  International Space Station ’s Poisk module at 6:46 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. The spacecraft backed away from the space station, and a few hours later, Progress’ engines fired in a deorbit maneuver to send the cargo craft into a destructive re-entry in the Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. The uncrewed Russian Progress 80 launched on a Soyuz rocket at 11:25 p.m. EST (9:25 a.m. on Feb. 15 Baikonur time) on Monday, Feb. 14, 2022, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The unpiloted cargo craft delivered almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies to the International Space Station. Learn more about station activities by following the  space station blog ,  @space_sta...

Expedition 68 crew members participate in a conference with mission controllers on the ground before the departure of the SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts. Chores and science wrapped up the week for the Expedition 68 crew aboard the International Space Station .  The orbital residents will also see a resupply ship leave the orbital lab on Sunday. NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio spent Friday afternoon rearranging cargo inside the Zarya module to maximize stowage space in the 24-year-old module. Hardware and other station cargo are constantly being moved around the station modules to support science experiments and maintenance activities. With cargo missions going back and forth at the station, it is necessary for the astronauts to keep track of where everything is and keep the gear neatly arranged for easy access. NASA astronaut Nicole Mann spent her day on orbital plumbing tasks, analyzing water samples for microbes, and inspecting ammonia cartridges. Mann also spent some time on...

Astronaut Frank Rubio has fun with fluid physics as he observes the behavior of a free-flying water bubble inside the space station. Household maintenance tasks were the main objective aboard the International Space Station on Thursday as the Expedition 68 crew members configured crew quarters and serviced the orbiting lab’s toilet. The station residents also had time during the day for human research activities, robotics training, and upcoming cargo mission preparations. NASA Flight Engineers Frank Rubio and Nicole Mann partnered together on Thursday afternoon testing power supply assemblies inside a pair crew quarters located in the Harmony module . The electrical devices were swapped between the two crew quarters to troubleshoot and recreate a fan failure signature. Mann also gathered hardware and prepared the station’s new toilet so NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada could replace components inside the bathroom located in the Tranquility module . Rubio started his day char...

The SpaceX Dragon Endurance crew ship, carrying four Crew-5 members, approaches the station with the waxing gibbous Moon in the background. Credit: NASA/Kjell Lindgren A pair of brain studies were on the research schedule aboard the International Space Station today to learn how the central nervous system adapts to weightlessness. The Expedition 68 crew also worked on variety of household tasks throughout Wednesday including orbital plumbing and electronics system repairs. NASA Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada worked on two different experiments investigating separate facets of the human brain and how it adjusts to microgravity. During the morning, Mann attached sensors to herself and measured her arterial blood pressure and blood flow velocity. Results may provide insights into how the brain regulates its blood supply and possibly counteract blood pressure drops astronauts may experience after returning to Earth. Cassada wore a virtual reality headset for the GRA...

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer points the camera toward himself and takes a “space-selfie” during a spacewalk on March 23, 2022. NASA completed a flight readiness review in October, and is “GO” to resume routine spacewalks outside of the International Space Station . The first of three planned spacewalks is targeted to begin around mid-November to continue the work to install roll out solar arrays, called iROSA. The review marks the completion of an investigation into the cause of a thin layer of moisture being discovered in March inside ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer ’s helmet after station airlock re-pressurization following a nearly seven-hour spacewalk . Mauer was conducting a spacewalk focused on preparation of new solar array installation outside the microgravity laboratory. Following the successful spacewalk, the space station crew expedited Maurer’s helmet removal and then gathered data in coordination with ground support teams at NASA’s John...

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer points the camera toward himself and takes a “space-selfie” during a spacewalk on March 23, 2022. NASA completed a flight readiness review in October, and is “GO” to resume routine spacewalks outside of the International Space Station . The first of three planned spacewalks is targeted to begin around mid-November to continue the work to install roll out solar arrays, called iROSA. The review marks the completion of an investigation into the cause of a thin layer of moisture being discovered in March inside ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer ’s helmet after station airlock re-pressurization following a nearly seven-hour spacewalk . Mauer was conducting a spacewalk focused on preparation of new solar array installation outside the microgravity laboratory. Following the successful spacewalk, the space station crew expedited Maurer’s helmet removal and then gathered data in coordination with ground support teams at NASA’s John...

The 11 crew members who lived aboard the station together for eight days pose for a portrait on Oct. 12, 2022. Today aboard the International Space Station , the Expedition 68 crew explored how to maintain healthy bodies and grow crops in the weightless environment of space. Learning to live long-term in microgravity and farther away from Earth orbit requires astronauts to sustain themselves without relying on visiting resupply missions. Humans lose muscle and bone mass much faster in space than on Earth due to the lack of gravity bearing down on them. However, the space station crew members work out two hours every day on a treadmill , an exercise cycle , and a resistive device , to offset and counteract the effects microgravity. One experiment called Myotones , worked on today by U.S. and Japanese Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Koichi Wakata , tracks how a crew member’s muscles adapt to space. The duo took turns marking their neck, back, leg and arm muscles, while inside the ...

The Expedition 68 crew gathers in the Harmony module to welcome the four SpaceX Crew-5 members aboard the space station: Credit: NASA TV The 11 crew members now living aboard the International Space Station had a short day on Friday following Thursday’s arrival of the SpaceX Crew-5 mission. The eight astronauts and three cosmonauts had a long night following the docking of the SpaceX Dragon Endurance crew ship. The four Crew-5 members are now officially Expedition 68 flight engineers and will spend the next few days getting used to life on orbit and familiarizing themselves with space station systems. NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada , along with Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Anna Kikina of Roscosmos, have a long list of space experiments they will conduct during their stay on the orbital lab. The commercial crew quartet will study microgravity’s affects on the cardiorespiratory system, modeling heart tissue to improve therapi...

Astronaut (from left) Nicole Mann, Koichi Wakata, and Josh Cassada are pictured aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endurance crew ship during a flight to the space station on Oct. 2, 2022. The seven-member Expedition 68 crew was busy aboard the International Space Station at the beginning of the week studying how the central nervous system adapts to microgravity and stowing hardware inside the BEAM module. The orbital residents also trained to operate Europe’s new robotic arm and packed a Russian cargo craft ahead of its upcoming departure. Two astronauts from the U.S. and Japan joined each other on Monday to learn how the brain adapts to the lack of a traditional up and down reference in space. NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada kicked off the human research study in the morning while seated inside the Columbus laboratory module and wearing a virtual reality headset. Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) took over in the afternoon for the free-fl...

The SpaceX Dragon Freedom crew ship carrying four astronauts splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls NASA astronauts Bob Hines , Kjell Lindgren , and Jessica Watkins , as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti splashed down safely in the SpaceX Dragon Freedom in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, at 4:55 p.m. EDT after 170 days in space. Teams on the Megan recovery ship, including two fast boats, now are in the process of securing Dragon and ensuring the spacecraft is safe for the recovery effort. As the fast boat teams complete their work, the recovery ship will move into position to hoist Dragon onto the main deck of Megan with the astronauts inside. Once on the main deck, the crew will be taken out of the spacecraft and receive medical checks before a helicopter ride to Jacksonville to board a plane for Houston. More details about the mission and NASA’s commercial...

The SpaceX Dragon Freedom crew ship with four Crew-4 astronauts aboard undocks from the space station to begin its return to Earth. Credit: NASA TV The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft with NASA astronauts Bob Hines , Kjell Lindgren , and Jessica Watkins , as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti inside undocked from the space-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 12:05 p.m. EDT to complete a nearly six-month science mission . NASA will continue to provide live coverage until Freedom splashes down at approximately 4:55 p.m. EDT near Jacksonville off the coast of Florida and the Crew-4 astronauts are recovered. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission launched Apr. 27 on a Falcon 9 rocket from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked to the space station later the same day. More details about the mission and NASA’s commercial crew program can be found by following the commercial crew blog , @commercial_crew and co...

The SpaceX Dragon Freedom crew ship is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s space-facing port where it been parked since April 27, 2022. Credit: NASA TV At 10:20 a.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 14, the hatch closed between the Dragon Freedom spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking and return to Earth of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission with NASA astronauts Bob Hines , Kjell Lindgren , and Jessica Watkins , as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti . NASA Television will air live coverage beginning at 11:15 a.m., for undocking scheduled at 11:35 a.m. and continue coverage through their splashdown off the coast of Florida at about 4:55 p.m. More details about the mission and NASA’s commercial crew program can be found by following the commercial crew blog , @commercial_crew and commercial crew on Facebook . Learn more about station activities by following the  space station blog ,  @space_station  an...