A variety of research operations were on the schedule for the Expedition 67 crew today including hearing checks, radiation protection, and space botany. The four astronauts and three cosmonauts also focused on cargo operations and International Space Station maintenance throughout the day.
NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than June 28 for the launch of the cargo Dragon spacecraft flight, designated CRS-25, to the International Space Station, pending variables, including availability on the Eastern Range and space station scheduling. The joint teams stood down from a launch attempt this week after elevated vapor readings were measured during propellant loading of the Dragon.
Flight Engineers Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency) and Kjell Lindgren of NASA took turns monitoring the noise levels they are exposed to while working on the orbiting lab. Cristoforetti attached the Acoustic Diagnostics device to herself in the morning capturing and recording sound level data. She then handed over the audio hardware to Lindgren in the afternoon so he could begin his acoustic monitoring session.
NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins tried on the AstroRad radiation protection vest Tuesday morning. The specialized vest is being tested for its ability to protect against solar particle events while providing comfort during normal station activities.
NASA Flight Engineer Bob Hines was back on gardening duty as he replaced seed cartridges and tended to radishes and mizuna greens growing for the XROOTS space botany study. Hines and Watkins then partnered together in the afternoon for packing activities inside the Cygnus space freighter ahead of its departure planned for late June.
Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Korsakov continued their exercise research today learning how to maximize the effectiveness of a workout in microgravity. The duo then split up and serviced a variety of communications and life support gear. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Denis Matveev started his day with an Earth photography session then moved on to cargo transfer tasks inside the Progress 80 resupply ship docked to the Poisk module.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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