ISS - Expedition 63 Mission patch.
July 30, 2020
Two Flight Engineers and the Expedition 63 Commander, all from NASA, will talk to journalists Friday morning before the SpaceX Crew Dragon completes its stay at the International Space Station.
Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, NASA’s first commercial crew, have been aboard the orbiting lab since May 31. They have been packing the Crew Dragon spacecraft and testing its systems to get ready for this weekend’s scheduled undocking and return to Earth. NASA TV will provide continuous live coverage of their departure and splashdown activities.
Image above: NASA astronauts (from left) Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley and Chris Cassidy are the U.S. members of the Expedition 63 crew. Image Credit: NASA.
The NASA station trio, including Commander Chris Cassidy, will answer questions Friday morning from a variety of reporters calling up to space. NASA TV will broadcast the Crew News Conference live beginning at 10:45 a.m. EDT.
Orbital science is still ongoing today amidst Hurley and Behnken’s departure preparations. Cassidy was observing how microgravity shapes water droplets possibly improving water conservation and water pressure techniques on Earth. Even the homebound duo put in some research time studying light-manipulating materials and starting up an experimental radiation detector.
International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA
Earth observations are part of the critical research program taking place onboard the station. First-time cosmonaut Ivan Vagner photographed Earth landmarks today to understand and forecast the effects of natural and man-made catastrophes. Veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin continued unloading the new Progress 76 cargo craft while updating the station’s inventory system.
Related articles:
NASA, SpaceX Preparing For Crew Return
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/07/nasa-spacex-preparing-for-crew-return.html
Top 10 Things to Know for NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Return
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2020/07/top-10-things-to-know-for-nasas-spacex.html
Related links:
Expedition 63: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition63/index.html
Commercial Crew Program: https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/index.html
Water droplets: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7541
Light-manipulating materials: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7879
Experimental radiation detector: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7434
Natural and man-made catastrophes: https://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/study/14.html
Progress 76: https://go.nasa.gov/2OPEKgb
Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.
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