Space life

Astronauts (from left) Thomas Marshburn and Mark Vande Hei peer at the Earth below from inside the seven-windowed cupola, the space station’s window to the world. Wednesday’s main research aboard the International Space Station is exploring how astronauts manipulate objects and move around in weightlessness. The Expedition 66 crew is also getting ready for a pair of resupply missions due to launch next week. Grabbing an object and moving around is different in space than on Earth. Scientists are studying how astronauts adjust to the microgravity environment with possible implications for spacecraft interfaces designed for future missions to planets, moons, or asteroids. NASA Flight Engineers Raja Chari and Kayla Barron took turns and strapped themselves into a specialized seat in the Columbus laboratory module for the GRIP study on Wednesday. The duo then performed a series of movements while gripping a control device helping researchers understand how astronauts respond to d...

The space station is pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly around on Nov. 8, 2021. The International Space Station is orbiting slightly higher today placing it in position for a crew swap taking place in March. Meanwhile, the seven-member Expedition 66 crew participated in life science and physics research and a variety of robotics activities. Russia’s ISS Progress 79 cargo craft, docked to the aft end of the Zvezda service module , fired its engines early Tuesday morning for two minutes and 22 seconds. The orbital maneuver boosted the station’s orbit by six-tenths of a mile in preparation for the Soyuz MS-20 crew ship arriving in mid-March as well as the Soyuz MS-19 trio departing on March 30. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei will be returning to Earth inside the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship completing a NASA single spaceflight record-breaking mission of 355 days. Today’s science schedule aboard the orbiting lab covered a wide variety of subjects exploring phenome...

NASA astronaut Kayla Barron shows off food packets and prepares for lunch aboard the space station’s Unity module. The Expedition 66 crew kicked off the week today exploring how living in space affects psychology and ways to manipulate objects with sound. The residents aboard the International Space Station also serviced U.S. spacesuits and worked on an artificial gravity-generating incubator. NASA Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari took turns participating in a robotics test for the Behavioral Core Measures experiment on Monday. The monthly sessions investigate how living in a confined space in microgravity affects crew stress, performance, and behavior. Barron then joined ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer and practiced measuring fluid pressure in the eye. She also photographed cotton cell samples growing for the Plant Habitat-05 space agriculture study. Maurer and Chari partnered together on Monday afternoon resizing a pair of U.S. spacesuits...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer onboard, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission is the third crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Chari, Marshburn, Barron, Maurer launched at 9:03 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center to begin a six month mission onboard the orbital outpost. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky) NASA and SpaceX provided an update Feb. 4 on the status of preparations on the agency’s Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station. As part of the news conference, NASA and SpaceX answered media questions on Crew Dragon’s parachute...

The official portrait of the seven-member Expedition 66 crew. From left are, NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Thomas Marshburn; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer; Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov; and NASA astronauts Kayla Barron and Mark Vande Hei. Five Expedition 66 astronauts had the day off on Friday while the two cosmonauts focused on human research and maintenance aboard the International Space Station . The orbiting lab’s four NASA astronauts and one ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut relaxed at the end of the week following several days of life science and physics research. Off-duty time usually consists of activities such as watching movies, talking to family on the ground, and looking at the Earth below from the seven-windowed cupola . This week’s science schedule included a pair of vision studies as well as weeklong eye scans using the Ultrasound 2 device. Another experiment is observing how a variety of cement mixtures harde...

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei studies cotton genetics for the Plant Habitat-5 space agriculture experiment. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei has lived in space continuously for 300 days since launching and docking to the orbiting lab on April 9, 2021 . He is on his way to surpassing Christina Koch’s 328-day mission on March 3 and Scott Kelly’s 340 days on March 15. Vande Hei will return to Earth on March 30 with a NASA astronaut record-breaking 355 consecutive days in Earth orbit. Vande Hei arrived at the station aboard the Soyuz MS-18 crew ship with Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov . Novitskiy returned to Earth on Oct. 17, 2021 , with spaceflight participants Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko. Dubrov will remain onboard the station with Vande Hei and parachute to a landing with station Commander Anton Shkaplerov in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-19 crew ship at the end of March. Meanwhile, aboard the International Space Station today the Expedition ...

The waning gibbous Moon is pictured above the Earth’s horizon from the International Space Station. Life science, robotics and space construction kept the Expedition 66 crew busy aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The orbital residents also worked on spacesuits and inspected a Russian module. Eye checks continued on the orbiting lab with NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn taking charge as crew medical officer during the afternoon. The three-time station astronaut used medical imaging gear, or optical coherence tomography, to scan the eyes and retinas of NASA Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari . Marshburn began his day studying how to produce and maintain nutrients during long-term space missions. Chari later worked on communications components inside a pair of U.S. spacesuits. Barron started her morning cleaning the Cell Biology Experiment Facility , an incubator with an artificial gravity generator. NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei set up the fr...