Bone and brain research wrapped up the week aboard the International Space Station on Friday helping doctors keep astronauts healthy when living in weightlessness. The Expedition 73 crew also checked out spacesuit gear, conducted ultrasound eye scans, and photographed Earth landmarks.
Bone health is critical in space with astronaut’s experiencing accelerated aging-like symptoms similar to older patients on Earth. Keeping astronauts fit in microgravity requires extra attention to protect crew health and prepare their bodies for the return to Earth. NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim processed bone stem cell samples inside the Kibo laboratory module’s Life Science Glovebox to explore the molecular mechanisms of space-induced bone loss. The new investigation recently delivered aboard a Space X Dragon cargo craft seeks to safeguard a crew member’s skeletal system and possibly treat aging conditions and bone diseases on Earth.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov studied brain adjustment in microgravity and wore virtual reality goggles and responded to computerized stimuli. Researchers will review the results from the ongoing study to learn how a crew’s sense of balance and spatial orientation adapts to weightlessness informing future spaceflight training.
NASA Flight Engineer Zena Cardman worked in the Quest airlock and performed pressure and leak checks on spacesuit jetpack components. The jetpacks are attached to the rear of spacesuits and are a safety mechanism a spacewalker would use to maneuver back to the space station in the unlikely event they became untethered from their worksite. Cardman also inspected and cleaned metal oxide canisters that remove carbon dioxide from the spacesuits.
Cardman also joined Flight Engineers Mike Fincke of NASA and Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) for regularly scheduled eye scans with the Ultrasound 2 device. Doctors on the ground observed the downlinked scans in real time to learn how microgravity affects the cornea, lens, and optic nerve.
Statin Commander Sergey Ryzhikov kicked off his shift servicing the Zvezda service module’s ventilation system before ending his day downloading imagery of Australian and South American landmarks. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Alexey Zubritsky uninstalled navigation hardware from the Progress 92 cargo craft that docked to the orbital lab on July 5. Zubritsky later joined Platonov and filmed an educational video demonstrating how objects move in space.
Looking ahead to the next cargo resupply mission, NASA, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 5:49 p.m. EDT Monday, Sept. 15, for the launch of the next commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. The Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, delivering science and supplies to the orbital complex.
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.
Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. Subscribe here.