ISS - Expedition 52 Mission patch.
July 11, 2017
International Space Station. Image Credit: NASA
The orbiting Expedition 52 trio continued exploring magnetized cell structures today and worked on advanced repair tasks. Also, a new crew is in Moscow getting ready for its launch in less than three weeks.
Astronaut Peggy Whitson was back at work Tuesday running the Mag 3D cell culturing experiment all day. She peered at magnetic three-dimensional cell cultures through a microscope, specifically looking at the borders of the biocell structures. The biocells were then stowed in a science freezer before being injected with magnetic 3D culture media. Mag 3D observations may improve cell and tissue culture capabilities and research on orbit.
Image above: Expedition 52 flight engineers Paolo Nespoli, left, Sergey Ryazanskiy, center, and Randy Bresnik visit Red Square prepare to lay roses at the site where Russian space icons are interred as part of traditional pre-launch ceremonies. Photo Credits: (NASA/Bill Ingalls).
Though the space station is an orbiting laboratory, it is also a home that needs regular maintenance. Flight Engineer Jack Fischer put on his repairman’s hat today replacing a failed water separator inside the Tranquility module. The water separator is part of the Common Cabin Air Assembly that controls the station’s temperature and humidity.
Three upcoming station crew members are spending their final week in Moscow before heading to the launch site in Kazakhstan on Sunday. The experienced space trio will launch to space aboard the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft July 28 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Expedition 52-53 crew members Randy Bresnik, Paolo Nespoli and Sergey Ryazanskiy will live aboard the station for 4-1/2 months.
Related links:
Expedition 52: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition52/index.html
Mag 3D experiment: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1929.html
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/Catherine Williams.
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