Spacewalk preparations and health research awaited the Expedition 75 crew aboard the International Space Station at the beginning of August. The next crew to visit the orbital outpost, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13, introduced themselves today during a news conference from Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Station commander Jessica Meir and flight engineer Anil Menon, both from NASA, continued reviewing the procedures planned for a spacewalk scheduled to begin at 8:35 a.m. EDT on Thursday. The duo also configured the tools and supplies they will use to build the platform upon which a roll out solar array will be installed later this year. NASA+ and a variety of other platforms will stream live spacewalk coverage beginning at 7 a.m.
Flight engineers Jack Hathaway of NASA and Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) joined the duo for the spacewalk procedure reviews and practiced installing emergency jetpacks on the spacesuits. The jetpacks, officially known as Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue, or SAFER, can be operated by a spacewalker to maneuver back to the station in the unlikely event they became untethered from the space station.
Hathaway began his shift inside the Kibo laboratory module removing hardware that supported a pair of technology studies to demonstrate advanced computing and imaging in the vacuum of space. Afterward, Hathaway tested rope pulling and resistive exercises on the new European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device (E4D) installed in the Columbus laboratory module. The E4D is optimized for working out in microgravity and is being evaluated for use on future space exploration missions.
Adenot tried on the EasyMotion-2 workout suit that sends electrical impulses and triggers muscle contractions to supplement her jogging session on the COLBERT treadmill in the Tranquility module. Afterward, Adenot configurated components inside the advanced resistive exercise device that mimics the forces of free weights on Earth to maintain muscle and bone health in microgravity.
Roscosmos flight engineers Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina took turns wearing a set of arm, wrist, and finger cuffs measuring their blood pressure to track how weightlessness affects the circulatory system. Afterward, the duo took a computerized hearing test in the Quest airlock to check for hearing changes that may occur in the operational environment of the station.
Roscosmos flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev kicked off his shift checking out communications and electronics hardware. Fedyaev wrapped up his day testing artificial intelligence tools to boost crew efficiency.
The four SpaceX Crew-13 members, the next crew to visit the space station, introduced themselves today from NASA’s Johnson Space Center and discussed their upcoming mission planned to launch no earlier than Sept. 12 aboard a Dragon spacecraft. Commander Jessica Watkins of NASA mentioned she is looking forward to returning to the station and “flying on Dragon on a second time.” Watkins will lead first-time space flyers Pilot Luke Delaney of NASA and Mission Specialists Joshua Kutryk of CSA (Canadian Space Agency) and Sergey Teteryatnikov of Roscosmos when they join the Expedition 75 crew aboard the orbital outpost.
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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