Loral O’Hara, NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 aeronautical engineer, proudly displays the research hardware that supports the UMAMI (Understanding Microgravity for Animal-Microbial Interactions) astrobiology experiment. Dr. O’Hara has in her possession an Advanced Space Experiment Processor (ADSEP) fluid processing cassette (FPC) that facilitates observations of the effects of spaceflight on the molecular and chemical interactions between beneficial microorganisms and their animal hosts. Credit goes to NASA for this image.
The top research goals for the Expedition 70 crew earlier in the week included crew health and astrobiology. The crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) were occupied with various standard laboratory maintenance tasks. In the meantime, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft is scheduled to depart as early as Wednesday.
Studying the effects of weightlessness is a priority for doctors and scientists, as they observe how various life forms, including humans, adapt and survive in the harsh environment of microgravity. NASA and its international partners are planning further long-term missions into space in order to learn more about the biology of aging and its impact on disease mechanisms. NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 flight engineer Jasmine Moghbeli was seen wearing a BioMonitor vest and headband to test her ability to comfortably monitor the health of astronauts throughout the day. She also spent time processing cell samples in the Kibo experimental module’s life science glovebox.
Today, a pair of CubeSats were deployed outside the orbital outpost for exploration. Flight engineer Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) photographed the deployment of two small satellites and then maintained and supported optical hardware regenerative medicine experiment. In the end, Furukawa prepared: Sapphire-VI Fire safety experiments conducted remotely on board a ship Cygnus space cargo ship After leaving the space station.
Astronauts Loral O’Hara and Andreas Mogensen were stowing their spacewalk gear in Quest’s airlock. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut and Expedition 70 Commander Andreas Mogensen used the Advanced Space Experiment Processor 2 (ADSEP-2) to store and process samples for a variety of biological and physical science experiments.
Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Konstantin Borisov inspected and photographed eggs packed inside a centrifuge in the Nauka scientific module. Flight engineer Nikolai Chubut spent the day developing the life support systems inside the Zarya and Zvezda modules.
The Dragon supply mission’s departure was targeted for 5:05 p.m. EST Wednesday, Dec. 20, with coverage beginning at 4:45 p.m. on the NASA+ streaming service and NASA Television. As the departure was being organized, joint teams continued to work to assess optimal autonomous ports of entry and return weather conditions.
Source: scitechdaily.com
