As Dragon's launch date approaches, research is guiding deep space missions

 Jan 05 2023

The space station captured this image of the Waxing Gibbous Moon as it passed over the southern Indian Ocean.

The Expedition 68 crew's workday on Thursday inside the International Space Station was dominated by space research and spacesuits. A U.S. cargo ship will also depart from the orbiting lab early next week.

As NASA and its international partners plan human missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, maintaining people farther from Earth is a major goal. In order to lessen dependency on external supply flights, the BioNutrients-2 experiment underway aboard the station aims to give astronauts access to nutrients while in flight. Long-term food storage also makes food lose some of its nutritional value. Today, NASA astronauts Frank Rubio and Nicole Mann alternated between maintaining and taking pictures of genetically modified yeast samples cultured in the Space Automated Bioproduct Laboratory for the study that aimed to swiftly and cheaply deliver appropriate nourishment on demand.

A pair of spacesuits, also known as Extravehicular Mobility Units, or EMUs, were sized by Mann in collaboration with Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Additionally, Mann upgraded the EMUs with lithium-ion batteries to power the spacesuit life support systems. The spacesuits are getting ready for an upcoming spacewalk that will continue to improve the power production system on the station.

Wakata had earlier worked alongside NASA Flight Engineer Josh Cassada to finish loading the SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft. On Monday at 5:05 p.m. EST, Dragon will finish a 43-day cargo mission and undock from the Harmony module's space-facing port. It will land laden with completed scientific experiments for examination and station gear for inspection off the coast of Florida.

The three cosmonauts of the orbiting lab concentrated on their microgravity study on Thursday, which will help people on and off Earth and shed light on deep space travel. After employing chromatography to separate the components of his blood samples, Commander Sergey Prokopyev investigated how stress from spaceflight may impact a cosmonaut's immune system.

Dmitri Petelin, a Roscosmos flight engineer, utilised a computer while wearing sensors to investigate how future crews may manage operating robots or spacecraft on planetary missions. Using a window-mounted camera, flight engineer Anna Kikina captured images of South American wildfires. After that, she focused on finding ways to enhance communication between global mission controllers and foreign personnel.