Expedition 74 focused on installing CubeSats and observing Earth aboard the International Space Station on Thursday. The trio from NASA and Roscosmos kept up ongoing research operations along with standard orbital lab maintenance throughout the day.
The numerous modules that make up the orbital outpost support a wide array of continuous microgravity experiments difficult or impossible to support in Earth’s gravity environment to benefit humanity on and off the planet. A portion of that research takes place on the outside of the space station and is even deployed into Earth orbit. NASA Flight Engineer Chris Williams spent his shift inside the Kibo laboratory module loading a small satellite orbital deployer with CubeSats on Thursday then installing the device inside Kibo’s airlock. The Japanese robotic arm—attached to Kibo—will retrieve the small satellite deployer from the airlock then point it away from the station. Afterward on an upcoming date, a series of shoebox-sized CubeSats will be deployed into Earth orbit for educational, government, and private research.
Other research aboard the International Space Station looks at the Earth to understand how the landscape is affected by natural catastrophes such as wildfires, storms, and more. Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Mikaev was back inside the Zvezda service module on Thursday pointing a camera outside windows at the Earth below. Mikaev photographed landmarks from northwest Africa to eastern Europe then downloaded the imagery for analysis by specialists on the ground. At the end of his shift, he configured a multi-spectral camera for an automated Earth photography session capturing imagery of wildfires from Africa to Southeast Asia during the crew’s sleep session.
The station’s commander, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos, worked throughout his shift on electronics and life support maintenance. Kud-Sverchkov began his day servicing orbital plumbing hardware and testing communication systems inside Zvezda. After lunch, he moved into the Nauka science module cleaning and inspecting its ventilation system. The two-time space station resident wrapped up his day cleaning Roscosmos fluid systems using compressed air and water to remove residues, particulates, and chemical deposits.
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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