Exercise research and spacesuit maintenance topped the schedule for the Expedition 73 and Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crews on Thursday. The 11 orbital residents also kept up an array of space research to improve human health while ensuring the International Space Station continues orbiting Earth in tip-top shape.
NASA Flight Engineer Nichole Ayers kicked off her shift activating the Bio-Monitor vest and headband to measure her health data. She wore the sensor-packed wearable gear that collected her blood pressure, heart, and breathing activity while she pedaled on the Destiny laboratory module’s exercise cycle. Doctors will use the information to help monitor and protect crew health as NASA and its international partners plan missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Ayers then spent the second half of her shift swapping out life support components and transferring water in a pair of spacesuits inside the Quest airlock.
Station Commander Takuya Onishi from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) called down to high school students in Japan and the United Kingdom and talked to them about living and working in space. Afterward, Onishi set up a science laptop computer and a centrifuge in the Kibo laboratory module for the Plant Cell Division study to learn how to develop agricultural methods for missions to the Moon and Mars.
NASA Flight Engineers Jonny Kim and Anne McClain focused mainly on lab upkeep throughout the orbital outpost on Thursday. Kim worked in the Unity module setting up hardware and configuring cables to troubleshoot pressure valves used to depressurize the Nanoracks Bishop airlock. McClain performed fluid transfer duties inside Destiny while also continuing to assist the Ax-4 crewmates during their science experiments.
Ax-4 private astronauts Peggy Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Tibor Kapu were busy all-day Thursday conducting their critical research. The quartet explored electrical muscle stimulation to supplement space exercise, a human-computer interface, and blood flow inside the brain. Ax-4 is scheduled to complete its mission at the orbital outpost no earlier than Monday, July 14, and undock inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from the Harmony module’s space-facing port for a return to Earth.
Working in the station’s Roscosmos segment, Flight Engineer Sergey Ryzhikov serviced an oxygen generator then tested new cameras recently delivered aboard the Progress 92 resupply ship. Cosmonaut Alexey Zubritskiy spent his day continuing to unload some of the nearly three tons of cargo still packed inside the Progress 92. Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov worked throughout the day on life support maintenance and orbital plumbing in the station’s Roscosmos segment.
Four members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission are targeting their launch aboard the SpaceX Dragon to the space station for no earlier than 12:09 p.m. on July 31. Commander Zena Cardman of NASA, Pilot Mike Fincke of NASA, and Mission Specialists Kimiya Yui from JAXA and Oleg Platonov are preparing for a research mission on the orbiting lab. Watch the Crew-11 Mission Overview and Crew News Conference that were broadcast on YouTube today for more information.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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