Two NASA astronauts are getting their spacesuits ready for a pair of spacewalks set to begin next week. The rest of the Expedition 63 crew juggled a variety of space science and life support work aboard the International Space Station today.
NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken spent Thursday filtering cooling loops and refilling water tanks inside the U.S. spacesuits they will wear during two maintenance spacewalks. The duo will exit the station’s U.S. Quest airlock on June 26 and July 1 starting at 7:35 a.m. EDT to finalize the long-running power upgrade work.
The experienced spacewalkers, who each have six spacewalks from previous missions, reviewed their complex tasks step-by-step on a computer during the afternoon. Cassidy and Behnken will swap old nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries on the Starboard-6 truss structure. NASA TV will begin its live coverage of both spacewalks, planned for about seven hours each, starting at 6 a.m.
Flight Engineers Doug Hurley of NASA and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos reviewed their support roles for the upcoming spacewalks. They will help the astronauts in and out of their spacesuits and monitor the spacewalks from inside the orbiting lab.
Hurley later serviced samples for a space bubbles study, possibly improving oxygen and medicine delivery systems, while also working on light plumbing tasks after lunchtime. Vagner checked out communications gear, had an Earth photography session and worked on a Russian oxygen generator.
Veteran cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin also spent some time photographing the Earth to help scientists forecast natural and man-made catastrophes. He then continued more plasma crystal research to gain fundamental knowledge and improve spacecraft designs.
Does all waste get transported back to Earth for recycling?
Trash is packed in cargo ships that are deorbited over the South Pacific and burn up in the atmosphere.
Great photo. What is that dark inverted triangle object just tipping into the top of the earth though?
That is a portion of the space station.
Just seen the space station I live in dukinfield Cheshire England 24.58am
Is there a reason why the camera outside the ISS isn’t working right now? I love looking at live shots but all I’m getting now is previously recorded. Will it be fixed soon?
Hi Patricia. Sorry to say but the High Definition Earth-Viewing payload has reached its end of life. You can read more about it here… https://www.nasa.gov/feature/high-definition-earth-viewing-payload-reaches-end-of-life-on-station-surpassing-life
Is there a site that we can see more photos from the ISS?
Hi Neal. There are more station pics you can view here…
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/images/index.html
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore
https://images.nasa.gov/
Hola amigos me encantaría recibir una fotografía de mi Argentina desde su nave, gracias y cada tanto los veo pasar por los cielos de mi Buenos Aires querido, saludos!!!
Hello Mario. Here a few pics of Argentina from the space station on our Flickr page… https://bit.ly/3fHzmXU
You can also search here for more pix from space… https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/ShowQueryResults-TextTable.pl?results=159285820566722