ISS - Expedition 57 Mission patch.
Oct. 5, 2018
It was a busy week aboard the International Space Station as Expedition 56 Commander Drew Feustel and Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold of NASA, along with Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Oleg Artemyev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos returned to Earth. With their departure comes the start of Expedition 57 and a new space station commander.
Image above: NASA astronauts Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold, along with Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos returned aboard the 54S Soyuz spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA.
Feustel, Expedition 56 Commander, handed off the station command to Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency during a Change of Command Ceremony on Wednesday.
In addition to all of the crew excitement, science was being conducted in the areas of human research, technology development, plant biology and more.
Learn more about the science happening on station below:
Blood and Saliva samples collected for ambient return
Protecting crew health is important as NASA prepares for long duration, deep-space missions. Functional Immune studies previously uninvestigated areas of the body’s immune response and if spaceflight alters a crew member’s susceptibility to disease.
The immune system is a complex weaving of biological structures and processes. Decreased activity in just one piece can cause changes in disease risk within the human body. Studies have shown in microgravity there are immune system modifications. This may create an environment where, in some crew members, rashes, unusual allergies and latent virus reactivation may present themselves.
This week, crew members collected saliva and blood samples for an ambient return aboard the 54S Soyuz spacecraft.
Read more about the investigation here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/functional_immune
Japanese satellite prepares for upcoming deployments
The JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD) provides a novel, safe, small satellite launching capability to the space station. The J-SSOD is a unique satellite launcher, handled by the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS), which provides containment and deployment mechanisms for several individual small satellites.
Animation above: The J-SSOD-10 was installed onto the MPEP in preparation for this weekend’s satellite deployments. Animation Credit: NASA.
This week, the crew installed the J-SSOD-10 onto the Multipurpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) in preparation for this weekend’s satellite deployments.
Arabidopsis plants thinned to allow for more growth
Understanding how plants grow and thrive in harsh environments, both on Earth and in space, is important for advancements in agriculture. The Advanced Plant Habitat Facility (Plant Habitat) is a fully automated facility used to conduct plant bioscience research and provides a large, enclosed, environmentally controlled chamber aboard the space station.
Image above: NASA astronaut Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor thinned the Arabidopsis plants, growing as a part of the Plant Habitat-1 investigation, contained within the Advanced Plant Habitat. Image Credit: NASA.
The crew performed plant thinning as a part of the Plant Habitat-1 investigation. In this activity, the young Arabidopsis plants, small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard, were thinned. This gives the remaining plants a better chance to continue their growth.
Learn more about the Plant Habitat here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/Giving_Roots_and_Shoots_Their_Space_APH
Other work was done on these investigations:
- BEST seeks to advance use of sequencing DNA and RNA in space: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7687
- Food Acceptability examines changes in how food appeals to crew members during their time aboard the station. Acceptability of food – whether crew members like and actually eat something – may directly affect crew caloric intake and associated nutritional benefits: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7562
- The Sally Ride EarthKAM program allows students to remotely control a digital camera mounted on the space station and use it to take photographs of coastlines, mountain ranges and other features and phenomena. The images are posted online where the public and participating classrooms can view Earth from the station’s unique vantage point: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=87
- The Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG) is a sealed work area that accommodates life science and technology investigations in a workbench-type environment. Due to its larger size, two crew members can work in the LSG simultaneously: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=7676
- MATISS investigates the antibacterial properties of materials in space for possible application in future spacecraft: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7333
- MobiPV aims to improve the efficiency of activity execution by giving crewmembers a wireless set of wearable, portable devices that utilize voice navigation and a direct audio/video link to ground experts: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1818
- Meteor is a visible spectroscopy instrument used to observe meteors in Earth orbit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1174
Space to Ground: Hello, Goodbye: 10/05/2018
Related links:
Expedition 57: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition57/index.html
Functional Immune: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2011
JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=883
Plant Habitat: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=2036
Plant Habitat-1: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2032
Spot the Station: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
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), Animation (mentioned), Video (NASA), Text, Credits: NASA/Erling Holm/Yuri Guinart-Ramirez, Lead Increment Scientist Expeditions 55 & 56.
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