ISS - Expedition 45 Mission patch.
October 22, 2015
The crew started their day checking out Cubesat gear and researching a wide variety of science to benefit humanity on and off Earth. Later, two astronauts tried on their spacesuits to ensure a good fit before next week’s spacewalk.
Image above: A U.S. spacesuit is pictured inside the Quest joint airlock. Image Credit: NASA.
Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren were in the Kibo lab module Thursday morning inspecting and photographing a small satellite deployer mechanism. The mechanism failed to eject a pair of Cubesats two weeks ago and payload controllers are troubleshooting the issue.
During the afternoon, the duo got back together inside the U.S. Quest airlock and tried on the spacesuits they will wear on spacewalks scheduled for Oct. 28 and Nov. 6. They were assisted inside the airlock by Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and cosmonaut Sergey Volkov. Yui will guide the spacewalkers and operate the 57.7 foot Canadarm2 robotic arm during the spacewalks.
Image above: Expedition 45 crew members Kimiya Yui, Kjell Lindgren and Sergey Volkov work inside the Quest airlock to get a pair of spacesuits ready for upcoming spacewalks. Image Credit: NASA TV.
The first spacewalk is set to last six-hours and 30-minutes after Kelly and Lindgren set their spacesuits to battery power. The duo will exit Quest to place a thermal cover over a dark matter detection experiment, lubricate the 57.7 foot Canadarm2 robotic and route power cables for a future docking port.
More human research took place today as the crew looked at brain adaptation and cognitive performance on the space station. The crew also explored sleep disturbances and changes in cardiac and respiratory behavior during long-term missions.
International Space Station (ISS). Image Credit: NASA
The entire crew still continued the work of on-orbit science, the primary purpose of the space station. Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, along with Kelly and Lindgren performed cardiac scans with an ultrasound for the Ocular Health study. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui set up a mouse habitat inside the Cell Biology Experiment Facility.
Related links:
Brain adaptation: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1007.html
Cognitive performance: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1256.html
Sleep disturbances: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1802.html
Cardiac and respiratory behavior: http://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/human/19.html
Ocular Health study: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/204.html
Cell Biology Experiment Facility: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/342.html
Expedition 45: https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/category/expedition-45/
For more information about the International Space Station (ISS), visit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.
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