ISS - Expedition 63 Mission patch.
June 16, 2020
Tuesday’s science aboard the International Space Station encompassed life science, fluids and flames to help humans on Earth and in space. The Expedition 63 crew also configured spacewalk tools and opened up an expandable module.
Commander Chris Cassidy of NASA collected and stowed his blood and urine samples today for later analysis. He also set up an experiment that observes how fluids flow in micrometer-sized tubes to improve medical diagnostic devices on Earth and in spaceships.
Image above: A waning gibbous Moon is pictured just above the Earth’s horizon on June 7, 2020. Image Credit: NASA.
Cassidy also joined NASA Flight Engineer Bob Behnken organizing and inspecting a variety of gear ahead of two spacewalks planned for June 26 and July 1. The duo will be swapping old nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries on the Starboard-6 truss structure to upgrade the station’s power systems.
Behnken opened up and entered BEAM, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, to retrieve life support equipment during the afternoon. He also partnered up with fellow Flight Engineer Doug Hurley unpacking new science equipment from Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehicle-9 (HTV-9) resupply ship and installing it in Europe’s Columbus laboratory module.
Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) deployment. Animation Credit: NASA
Veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin continued to service the Combustion Integrated Rack replacing fuel bottles to maintain safe fuel and flame research in the device. Insights could improve fire safety as well as combustion processes for Earth and space industries. His Russian colleague Ivan Vagner worked on a pair of Earth observation studies monitoring the effects of catastrophes and the development of forests.
Related article:
NASA TV Coverage Set for Final Space Station Spacewalk Power Upgrades
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-tv-coverage-set-for-final-space-station-spacewalk-power-upgrades
Related links:
Expedition 63: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition63/index.html
Commercial Crew Program: http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew
How fluids flow: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7377
Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/bigelow-expandable-activity-module.html
H-II Transfer Vehicle-9 (HTV-9): https://iss.jaxa.jp/en/htv/mission/htv-9/
Columbus laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/europe-columbus-laboratory
Combustion Integrated Rack: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=317
Effects of catastrophes: https://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/study/09.html
Development of forests: https://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/study/13.html
Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.
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