jeudi 7 septembre 2017

Space Science Work Today as New Crew Waits for Launch & ISS Passes Over Hurricane Irma












ISS - Expedition 53 Mission patch.

September 7, 2017

ISS Passes Over Hurricane Irma - 9/6/2017

Video above: The International Space Station’s external cameras captured another dramatic view of Hurricane Irma as it made landfall in the Caribbean Sept. 6. The powerful Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 185 mph made landfall on several islands while continuing on a westward track. Irma is expected to bring severe wind and rain to several islands in the Caribbean over the next several days with the potential to impact the Florida peninsula by week’s end. Video Credits: NASA.

Today’s science tasks included an inspection on an advanced microscope and readying a magnetic field experiment. The crew also worked on a failed electrical device that was robotically transferred to the Kibo laboratory module in early August.

Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli removed a failed Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) from Kibo’s airlock today. The duo swapped out some electronics gear in the MBSU and tested the device while it was connected to a laptop computer.


Image above: Expedition 53-54 prime and backup crew members pose in front of the Soyuz MS-06 rocket that will launch Sept. 12 carrying Alexander Misurkin, Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba to the space station. Image Credits: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center/Irina Peshkova.

Nespoli started his day setting up the Magvector magnetic field experiment for operations set to begin next week. The study investigates how Earth’s magnetic field interacts with an electrical conductor potentially improving electrical experiments in space.

As Bresnik was wrapping up his MBSU maintenance work, Nespoli began inspecting advanced microscope gear. The variety of new Light Microscopy Module gear had been recently launched and was being checked for shattered materials.

ISS Pass Over Hurricane Irma 9/7/2017

Video above: Updated caption for today: External cameras on the International Space Station captured views during an overhead pass of Hurricane Irma on Sept. 7, the third pass this week. The Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 180 mph has brought devastating wind and rains to several islands in the Caribbean, with a hurricane watch in effect for much of Cuba and the potential to begin impacting the Florida peninsula by week’s end. Note: The second view appears in black and white due to an issue with the sensor on the external camera. Video Credit: NASA.

Three new Expedition 53 crew members are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome just five days away from their launch to the International Space Station. Two NASA astronauts and a Roscosmos cosmonaut are in final preparations checking their Sokol launch and entry suits and examining their Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft.

Related links:

Expedition 53: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition53/index.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Image (mentioned), Videos (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.

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