ISS - Expedition 59 Mission patch.
June 7, 2019
Four Expedition 59 astronauts are taking a three-day weekend aboard the International Space Station after packing a U.S. space freighter for return to Earth. The two cosmonauts focused on exercise studies, physics research and life support maintenance on the Russian side of the orbiting lab.
Image above: This view from the International Space Station looks from northeast to southwest, from Greece, Italy and across the Mediterranean Sea to Libya. The Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft is pictured in the foreground. Image Credit: NASA.
NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Anne McClain and Nick Hague and Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques are relaxing today following last weekend’s SpaceX Dragon cargo loading and closeout activities. The quartet spent the first part of the week cleaning and stowing hardware after Dragon returned to Earth Monday full of completed experiments and station gear for analysis.
Venus at Sunrise From the Space Station
Image above: From the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Christina Koch (@AstroChristina) snapped and posted this image of the planet Venus at sunrise. The blue glow of Earth's atmosphere shimmers as the station orbits our planet. Image Credit: NASA/@AstroChristina.
Station Commander Oleg Kononenko attached sensors to Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin today monitoring his vital signs during an exercise study to determine the most effective workouts in space. Ovchinin cleaned up afterward then researched plasma crystals, or highly charged micro-particles that form self-organized structures in microgravity. The duo also checked life support systems, configured communications gear and inspected the structural integrity of the station’s Russian segment.
Related links:
Expedition 59: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition59/index.html
Exercise study: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=491
Plasma crystals: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1192
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/Mark Garcia.
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