ISS - Expedition 58 Mission patch.
March 5, 2019
The three Expedition 58 crew members are back to normal operations today with the newest SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship integrated to the International Space Station. Dragon will leave the station Friday as the next crew prepares to launch on March 14.
Astronauts Anne McClain and David Saint-Jacques called down to mission controllers today to discuss Crew Dragon operations. The duo also linked up with SpaceX personnel throughout the United States describing life on orbit and their impressions of the new crew vehicle.
Image above: Astronauts (from left) Anne McClain and David Saint Jacques are pictured in between a pair of spacesuits that are stowed and serviced inside the Quest airlock where U.S. spacewalks are staged. Image Credit: NASA.
McClain started today resizing U.S. spacesuits ahead of a set of spacewalks planned for March and April. She later worked on life support systems and plumbing maintenance in the Unity and Tranquility modules.
Saint-Jacques collected station water samples for microbial analysis. He then inspected tethers the astronauts will use to stay attached to the station during the upcoming spacewalks.
Image above: "The dawn of a new era in human spaceflight." — Astronaut Anne McClain. McClain had an unparalleled view from orbit of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft as it approached the International Space Station on Sunday, March 3, 2019. The Crew Dragon docked autonomously to the orbiting laboratory, a historic first for a commercially built and operated American crew spacecraft. This uncrewed test flight is providing valuable information to help verify that Crew Dragon will provide astronauts a safe, comfortable and enjoyable ride to space. Image Credit: NASA.
Commander Oleg Kononenko replaced fuel bottles used during experiment operations inside the Combustion Integrated Rack. The veteran cosmonaut also explored low temperature gas mixtures for the Plasma Krysyall-4 experiment collaboration between Europe and Russia.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon undocks Friday at 2:31 a.m. EST. Splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean is scheduled around 8:45 a.m. EST. NASA TV will cover all the activities live after closing the hatch Thursday.
Image above: Sunrise over Okhotsk Sea, seen by EarthCam on ISS, speed: 27'617 Km/h, altitude: 411,98 Km, image captured by Roland Berga (on Earth in Switzerland) from International Space Station (ISS) using ISS-HD Live application with EarthCam's from ISS on March 5, 2019 at 20:36 UTC. Image Credits: Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
On the other side of the world in Kazakhstan, three new Expedition 59 crew members are in final training awaiting their launch to the station. Commander Alexey Ovchinin and Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch are set to blastoff March 14 at 3:14 p.m. and dock less than six hours later to their new home in space.
Related links:
Expedition 58: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition58/index.html
Expedition 59: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition59/index.html
Spacewalks: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/spacewalks
Unity module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/unity
Tranquility module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/tranquility/
Combustion Integrated Rack: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=317
Plasma Krysyall-4: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1192
Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
Best regards, Orbiter.ch
