The crew researched the effects of living in space and set up a specialized microscope for a physics experiment today. Two astronauts are also getting ready for a Thursday spacewalk to continue setting up the International Space Station for commercial crew vehicles.
Flight Engineers Peggy Whitson and Thomas Pesquet used a tape measure this morning and measured their arms, legs, hips, waist and chest. Researchers are studying how microgravity impacts body size and shape and are comparing crew measurements before, during and after a space mission.
Whitson later began setting up gear for the ACE-T-1 (Advanced Colloids Experiment Temperature Control-1) physics study. She opened up the Fluids Integrated Rack and reconfigured the Light Microscopy Module to research tiny suspended particles designed by scientists and observe how they form organized structures within water.
Commander Shane Kimbrough is getting ready for another spacewalk on Thursday at 8 a.m. EDT. This time he’ll go outside with Whitson to finish cable connections at the Harmony module where the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) was robotically attached on Sunday. The PMA-3 relocation gets the adapter ready for the new International Docking Adapter-3 set to be delivered on a future cargo mission.
Thank you Peggy, Shane, & Thomas !! You have done a remarkable job and we love all the earth art and awesome information on research and everyday things going on in the ISS , just wanted to say your work has not gone un-noticed, We will see you flyover us at 8:03 pm Texas Time 🙂 Godspeed 🙂
Question:
Is there any “friction” (Drag) in space ? Would seem additions to the station would cause it to slow down.
https://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/qa_sp_ms.html#friction
“Yes, when two surfaces rub together in outer space, there will be friction. Friction is a surface effect and doesn’t depend upon there being air. There is also a force like air resistance from the very sparse gas in space, but it will be very, very small, since space is a very good vacuum.”