Expedition 74 began the week setting up pharmaceutical and exercise research hardware continuing ongoing studies to advance human health on and off the Earth. The orbital trio aboard the International Space Station also simulated a quick return to Earth scenario aboard the Soyuz spacecraft as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission targets a new launch date.
The weightless environment of space enables research results and reveals insights unobtainable under the pressure of Earth’s gravity. Studying protein crystals in microgravity reveals clearer structures than those produced on the ground helping doctors design safer, more effective drugs while advancing pharmaceutical manufacturing in space. NASA Flight Engineer Chris Williams contributed to that research on Monday installing cassettes filled with protein crystal samples inside the Advanced Space Experiment Processor-4 located in the Destiny laboratory module.
Afterward, Williams began gathering and configuring hardware for an upcoming exercise session to measure his aerobic and cardiovascular health. He first set up gear that will monitor his heart and breathing rate then tested power and data cables connections. Next, he checked breathing gas cylinders and readied other components to accurately calculate his oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production. Williams will wear the biomedical gear, including chest sensors, on Tuesday while pedaling on an exercise cycle helping doctors understand how a crew member’s fitness adapts to microgravity.
Williams also joined Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev and practiced a computer simulation of quickly entering a Soyuz spacecraft, undocking from the orbital outpost, and performing both a manual and automated descent into Earth’s atmosphere in the unlikely event of an emergency. Crews stay aboard the space station for months at a time and regularly refresh their spacecraft operational skills, as well as work through emergency training procedures.
Station commander Kud-Sverchkov later collected his saliva samples for analysis then attached electrodes to himself for 24 hours of cardiac monitoring. Doctors will use the biomedical data to understand how the effects of living in space, including radiation, weightlessness, and isolation, affect a crew member’s nervous and immune systems. Mikaev worked on water transfers then turned his attention to photographic inspections of windows inside the Zvezda service module.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission is now targeting its launch to the orbital outpost for no earlier than 5:38 a.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 12. Mission teams completed a weather review on Monday and elected to waive off a Wednesday, Feb. 11, launch opportunity due to unfavorable forecasted weather conditions along the flight path of the Dragon spacecraft. Weather will continue to be a watch item on Feb 12, and conditions are expected to improve on Friday, Feb. 13.
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.