ISS - Expedition 64 Mission patch.
Dec. 15, 2020
The Expedition 64 crew continues exploring how microgravity affects the heart to improve health for humans on and off the Earth. Northrop Grumman has booked its next Cygnus resupply mission to the International Space Station for early next year.
NASA Flight Engineers Kate Rubins and Michael Hopkins partnered up today for the Cardinal Heart study to learn how to treat aging and weakening heart cells. Hopkins peered at heart tissue samples through a microscope while Rubins serviced those samples in the Kibo laboratory module’s Life Sciences Glovebox.
Image above: Expedition 64 Flight Engineer Victor Glover reviews research procedures for an experiment that could accelerate the development of advanced therapies that target cancer cells. Image Credit: NASA.
Blood sample collections were on the morning schedule for Flight Engineer Victor Glover as he took glucose measurements for the Vascular Aging study. He then moved on to a space manufacturing study that seeks to vastly improve the production and quality of optic fibers.
On the maintenance front, JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi serviced U.S. spacesuits throughout Tuesday scrubbing cooling loops in the U.S. Quest airlock. NASA Flight Engineer Shannon Walker continued installing and outfitting the station’s new bathroom, the Universal Waste Management System, in the Tranquility module.
International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: ESA
Commander Sergey Ryzhikov worked during the morning replacing components inside the Zvezda service module’s treadmill then moved on to cargo transfers inside the Progress 76 resupply ship. Flight Engineer Sergey Kud-Sverchkov swapped fuel bottles inside the Combustion Integrated Rack research facility before configuring life support and communications hardware
Northrop Grumman has announced Feb. 20 for the launch of its Cygnus space freighter to the space station with several tons of cargo to resupply the crew. Cygnus will take a two-day trip to the orbiting lab before it is captured with the Canadarm2 robotic arm and installed to the Unity module where it will stay for two months.
Related links:
Expedition 64: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition64/index.html
Cardinal Heart: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8218
Kibo laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/japan-kibo-laboratory
Life Sciences Glovebox: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=7676
Vascular Aging: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7644
Space manufacturing study: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7630
U.S. Quest airlock: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/joint-quest-airlock
Universal Waste Management System: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/boldly-go-nasa-s-new-space-toilet-offers-more-comfort-improved-efficiency-for-deep-space
Tranquility module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/tranquility/
Zvezda service module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/zvezda-service-module.html
Combustion Integrated Rack: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=317
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.
Best regards, Orbiter.ch
