Nanoparticles, time perception, and peppers topped the science schedule aboard the International Space Station on Monday. Life support maintenance and cargo operations rounded out the day for the Expedition 65 crew aboard the orbiting lab.
NASA Flight Engineer Megan McArthur began her day swapping oxygen and fuel bottles inside the Combustion Integrated Rack that supports safe research into fuels, flames, and soot in microgravity. She also set up a camera pointing outside a window inside the Harmony module to support the EarthKAM student-controlled experiment.
McArthur also joined astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Thomas Pesquet and ran operations for the InSPACE-4 study throughout the day. The physics experiment investigates ways to harness nanoparticles to fabricate new and advanced materials. Pesquet also partnered with Commander Akihiko Hoshide wearing virtual reality goggles and clicking a trackball for the TIME experiment. The study observes how living in space affects an astronaut’s cognitive performance and perception of time.
Space botany has been a years-long pursuit on the station as NASA, and its international partners learn to support astronauts on long-term spaceflights. Today, NASA Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough configured the Advanced Plant Habitat and filled it with water to support growing peppers in space for the first time.
Vande Hei focused on lab maintenance tasks today, starting with servicing a carbon removal device in the station’s U.S. segment. The two-time station resident also worked on the Unity module’s common berthing mechanism then organized U.S. tools located inside Russia’s Zarya module.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Oleg Novitskiy photographed the condition of the Pirs docking compartment today ahead of its undocking and disposal later this month. First-time cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov concentrated on cargo transfers and inventory updates inside the ISS Progress 78 resupply ship.
Author Mark Garcia
Posted on July 12, 2021
For more about the International Space Station:
