ISS - Expedition 59 Mission patch.
May 15, 2019
The Expedition 59 crew spent the day exploring what happens to the immune system when exposed to the microgravity environment. The space residents are also gearing up for another spacewalk at the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain were back inside the U.S. Destiny laboratory module today studying how a rodent’s immune system changes in space. Canadian Space Agency David Saint-Jacques partnered up with the duo during the research activities throughout Wednesday. The Rodent Research-12 study is helping doctors understand how weightlessness changes an astronaut’s immune system, which is similar to mice.
Image above: Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko inspects the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft during a spacewalk on Dec. 11, 2018. Image Credit: NASA.
Flight Engineer Nick Hague worked solo during the morning exploring the benefits and risks of microorganisms living in a spacecraft. Hague first photographed samples of microalgae that may supplement the diet of future astronauts going to the Moon and beyond. Next, the NASA astronaut continued investigating why pathogens become more virulent in space posing a flight risk to astronauts.
Image above: Sunset over Brazil, seen by EarthCam on ISS, speed: 27'601 Km/h, altitude: 409,32 Km, image captured by Roland Berga (on Earth in Switzerland) from International Space Station (ISS) using ISS-HD Live application with EarthCam's from ISS on May 15, 2019 at 22:33 UTC.
Hague also joined Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin during the afternoon helping the cosmonauts with spacewalk preparations. The trio gathered and inspected tethers, tools and a variety of other gear in advance of the Russian spacewalk planned for May 29. The cosmonauts are scheduled to work outside the station’s Russian segment for six hours collecting experiments, cleaning windows and sampling module surfaces.
Related links:
Expedition 59: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition59/index.html
U.S. Destiny laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/us-destiny-laboratory
Rodent Research-12: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7868
Microalgae: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7689
Pathogens: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7642
Moon and beyond: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/moon2mars/
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
Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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