The International Space Station crew is gearing up for a couple of spacewalks to service and upgrade the orbital laboratory. Meanwhile, the crew is also working long-term life science to improve life on Earth and in future space crews.
The U.S. Quest airlock is getting busy as NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren get their spacesuits and tools ready for a pair of spacewalks set for Oct. 28 and Nov. 26. They are checking their suit electronics and safety systems and also building custom tools.
The first spacewalk is set to last six-hours and 30-minutes after Kelly and Lindgren set their spacesuits to battery power. The duo will exit Quest to place a thermal cover over a dark matter detection experiment, lubricate the 57.7 foot Canadarm2 robotic and route power cables for a future docking port.
The entire crew still continued the work of on-orbit science, the primary purpose of the space station. Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, along with Kelly and Lindgren performed cardiac scans with an ultrasound for the Ocular Health study. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui set up a mouse habitat inside the Cell Biology Experiment Facility.
We’ve been watching the space station pass over our area, near Cambridge UK, and so far have seen it 20 times and we find it exciting to see each time. When we were in London on Wednesday we were able to show the space station going over to our 3 grandchildren and they were so excited to see something in space with their own eyes. Do you have a website specifically for children to answer their questions or keep them up to date as it travels overhead ?
Keep on flying safely
You can follow International Space Station activities on social media here…
https://www.facebook.com/ISS
https://twitter.com/Space_Station
https://instagram.com/iss/
You can ask questions here and use the #AskNASA.
We have a student website that you can also check out here…
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/index.html
Wish I could be up there with you guys.. I’m sure I would probably pass out on re-entry though.. Lol. You all do an amazing job and I try to check in from time to time. Want you to know you all doing things together up there keeps us motivated down here. Ever since I watched my first space shuttle launch when I was a kid I have observed you all as hero’s.. Let the peace of space fill you and keep bringing some home.