ISS - Expedition 64 Mission patch.
Jan. 8, 2021
International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: ESA
The Expedition 64 crew is going into the weekend packing the SpaceX Dragon resupply ship and readying it for a Monday morning undocking from the International Space Station. The orbital residents are also turning their attention to a pair of spacewalks taking place before the end of January.
A month after its arrival and delivery of a suite of vital space science investigations, the Dragon will return the research back to Earth for analysis on Monday. The astronauts will be loading gear and samples from those studies, as well as a variety of station hardware, into Dragon this weekend before closing its hatch a few hours before undocking.
Image above: The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is pictured approaching the International Space Station for a docking on Nov. 17, 2020. Image Credit: NASA.
The astronauts are transferring rodents inside specialized habitats into Dragon including an array of biological and microbial samples stowed in science freezers. Scientists on Earth will examine the mice for insights into advanced therapies to treat space-caused vision and bone conditions. Heart tissue samples and microbes will be also looked at, among other samples, to learn how to keep astronauts healthy and spacecraft clean and safe.
NASA Flight Engineer Kate Rubins will be monitoring Dragon when it undocks Monday at 9:25 a.m. EST. from the Harmony module’s space-facing international docking adapter. The upgraded space freighter is planned to splash down several hours later in the Atlantic Ocean, a first for a commercial cargo spacecraft. NASA and SpaceX personnel will be on hand to retrieve the cargo craft. NASA TV will broadcast Dragon’s undocking and separation live on NASA TV beginning at 9 a.m.
Image above: NASA astronaut Kate Rubins loads engineered heart tissue samples into a science freezer for preservation and later analysis. Image Credit: NASA.
Following a busy holiday season of space research, the crew now turns its attention to spacewalks planned for January 19 and 25. Veteran spacewalker Michael Hopkins will conduct both spacewalks with Flight Engineer Victor Glover. They will outfit science hardware on Europe’s Columbus laboratory module during the first spacewalk then upgrade high definition video and camera gear on the second.
The pair were joined today by Rubins and JAXA Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi for spacewalk procedure reviews and a conference with spacewalk specialists on the ground. Hopkins and Glover also began configuring and organizing their spacewalking tools. Rubins and Noguchi will assist the astronauts in and out of their spacesuits and the Quest airlock before and after both spacewalks.
Related article:
NASA to Air Departure of Upgraded SpaceX Cargo Dragon from Space Station
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/01/nasa-to-air-departure-of-upgraded.html
Related links:
Expedition 64: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition64/index.html
Vision: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8147
Bone: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7734
Heart tissue samples: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8218
Microbes: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7956
Harmony module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/harmony
Science hardware: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=7799
Columbus laboratory module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/europe-columbus-laboratory
Quest airlock: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/joint-quest-airlock
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), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia.
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