ISS - Expedition 44 Mission patch.
June 17, 2015
Image above: Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti captured this image while on the International Space Station. It shows cloud cover over England, Baltic Sea and the Persian Gulf.
SpaceX engineers are in the final weeks of processing of the Falcon 9 rocket that will launch their Dragon commercial cargo craft to the International Space Station late next week. On orbit, a pair of Expedition 43 crew members reviewed the procedures they will use when the Dragon supply ship arrives a few days later.
During ongoing orbital station maintenance today, advanced microgravity science took place as the orbiting trio continues to explore phenomena that can only be observed in space. The crew researched acoustic methods to locate micrometeoroid impacts on the station for the Proboy study. They also explored the effects of weightlessness in the carotid artery and the redistribution of blood in the upper half of a crew member’s body.
SpaceX will launch the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft to the station June 26. It will arrive June 29 to be captured by the Canadarm2 with One-Year crew member Scott Kelly at the controls. Kelly will capture Dragon with the assistance of station commander Gennady Padalka who will monitor Dragon systems before it is berthed to the Harmony Node.
Orbital Trio Presses on With Year-Long Science and Dragon Preps
Image above: NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly works aboard the International Space Station on May 30, 2015 on a number of science experiments and maintenance of the stations equipment.
The three residents aboard the International Space Station conducted advanced microgravity science and trained for the arrival of the seventh SpaceX Dragon mission scheduled for the end of the month.
One-Year crew members Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko partnered up for the Fine Motor Skills study, part of a suite of yearlong studies planned for the pair. That experiment explores how astronauts operate and repair interactive, touch-based and sensitive technologies in space. Kornienko later studied the possibility of using 3-D manuals, or virtual manuals, to improve training techniques on science hardware.
Kelly joined Commander Gennady Padalka in the afternoon for rendezvous training as they prepare for the next SpaceX Dragon launch scheduled for June 26. The duo will be in the cupola monitoring Dragon and waiting to capture it with the Canadarm2 when it arrives June 29.
Related links:
Fine Motor Skills study: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1767.html
3-D manuals: http://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/develop/05.html
Expedition 44: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/category/expedition-44/
One-Year Crew: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/category/one-year-crew-2/
Dragon: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/tag/dragon/
International Space Station (ISS): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images, Text, Credits: NASA/NASA TV.
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