ISS - Expedition 63 Mission patch.
August 6, 2020
Advanced space science, cargo transfers and orbital maintenance kept the three Expedition 63 crew members occupied Thursday aboard the International Space Station.
Commander Chris Cassidy spent a good portion of his day working inside JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Kibo laboratory module. The experienced shuttle and station astronaut retrieved the Handhold Experiment Platform-2 (HXP-2), packed with several experiments, from inside Kibo’s airlock.
Image above: Russia’s Progress 76 resupply ship is pictured docked to the International Space Station’s Pirs docking compartment. Below the orbiting lab are the city lights of southeastern Europe. Image Credit: NASA.
The HXP-2 was grappled by Japan’s robotic arm, removed from Kibo’s Exposed Facility and placed inside the airlock last week. The small research platform housed a variety of experiment samples exposed to the vacuum of space for observation.
Russia’s newest resupply ship, the Progress 76 (76P) which delivered nearly three tons of food, fuel and supplies last month, continued to be offloaded today. Cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner unpacked electronics gear from the 76P and updated the space station’s inventory system.
A Starry Sky Above the Earth's Atmospheric Glow
Image above: This long-exposure photograph captures a starry sky above the Earth's atmospheric glow as the International Space Station orbited above the Indian Ocean about halfway between South Africa and Australia. Image Credit: NASA.
Ivanishin then moved on to science exploring how bone marrow and enzymes adapt to weightlessness and studied Earth’s upper atmosphere. Vagner checked station smoke detectors and transferred waste fluids into the Progress 75 cargo craft.
Related links:
Expedition 63: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition63/index.html
Kibo laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/japan-kibo-laboratory
Exposed Facility: https://iss.jaxa.jp/en/kibo/about/kibo/jef/
Bone marrow and enzymes: https://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/biology/24.html
Earth’s upper atmosphere: https://www.energia.ru/en/iss/researches/study/15.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
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia/Yvette Smith.
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