ISS - Expedition 46 Mission patch.
February 23, 2016
International Space Station (ISS)
The crew of Expedition 46 was engaged in a variety of repair tasks today across the orbiting laboratory. ESA astronaut Tim Peake replaced cables in the station’s Advanced Resistive Exercise Device, the primary tool for astronaut resistive exercise vital for maintaining bone and muscle mass while in microgravity. NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra worked to replace key components in the station’s Water Processing Assembly.
Peake also set up units for the NASA Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory (SABL), which is capable of supporting life science research on microorganisms, small organisms, animal cells, tissue cultures and small plants.
Image above: Image shared by Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly with the caption “#Countdown Let’s take this 16 sunsets at a time. 8 days to go tomorrow! #GoodNight from @space_station! #YearInSpace.”
Meanwhile, Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko are just one week away from the conclusion of their one-year mission. The pair are set to land in Kazakhstan at 11:27 p.m. EST March 1.
Spaceship Takes Out Trash Before One-Year Crew Goes Home
The Expedition 46 crew took out the trash today when it released the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft from the grips of the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. In less than two weeks, another spacecraft will leave returning three crew members back to Earth.
Successful Commercial Space Station Supply Mission Concludes
The Cygnus was filled with trash and discarded gear over the last few days before the hatches were closed Thursday. Ground controllers then remotely guided the Canadarm2 to grapple Cygnus and detach it from the Unity module.
Image above: There are now four spacecraft docked to the International Space Station after the Cygnus left Friday morning. The next spacecraft to leave will be the Soyuz TMA-18M docked to the Poisk module on March 1.
NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Tim Kopra commanded the Canadarm2 to release Cygnus February 19 (Friday) at 7:26 a.m. EST when it began gracefully departing the vicinity of the station. Orbital ATK controllers in Virginia will guide Cygnus into the Earth’s atmosphere Saturday morning where it will safely burn up high over the Pacific Ocean.
Image above: The Cygnus spacecraft is released from the International Space Station’s Canadarm2.
Kelly and a pair of cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov now turn their attention to their March 1 homecoming. They will be packing the Soyuz TMA-18M with science experiments and personal items for the ride home. Kelly and Kornienko will be completing 340 consecutive days in space, while Volkov will be wrapping up 182 days in orbit.
Related links:
- Advanced Resistive Exercise Device:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1001.html
- Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory (SABL):
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1283.html
- International Space Station (ISS): http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
- Space Station Research and Technology:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html
Images, Video, Text, Credits: NASA/NASA TV/Mark Garcia.
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