The European robotic arm is seen attached to the Nauka module of the International Space Station, the worksite for today’s spacewalk by two cosmonauts.
Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev, both of Roscosmos, began a spacewalk at 9:25 a.m. EDT to continue outfitting the European robotic arm on the International Space Station’s Nauka laboratory by opening the hatch of the Poisk docking compartment airlock. Coverage of the spacewalk continues on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
The duo is relocating an external control panel for the arm from one operating area to another and testing a rigidizing mechanism on the arm that will be used to facilitate the grasping of payloads.
Artemyev is wearing a Russian spacesuit with red stripes, while Matveev is wearing a Russian suit with blue stripes. This will be the eighth spacewalk in Artemyev’s career, and the fourth for Matveev. It is the eighth spacewalk at the station in 2022 and the 253rd spacewalk for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
The European robotic arm is seen attached to the Nauka module of the International Space Station, the worksite for today’s spacewalk by two cosmonauts.
Expedition 67 Commander Oleg Artemyev and Flight Engineer Denis Matveev, both of Roscosmos, began a spacewalk at 9:53 a.m. EDT to continue outfitting the European robotic arm on the International Space Station’s Nauka laboratory by opening the hatch of the Poisk docking compartment airlock. Coverage of the spacewalk continues on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
The duo is installing cameras on the European robotic arm, relocating an external control panel for the arm from one operating area to another, removing launch restraints near the two end effectors or “hands” of the arm, and testing a rigidizing mechanism on the arm that will be used to facilitate the grasping of payloads.
Artemyev is wearing a Russian spacesuit with red stripes, while Matveev is wearing a Russian suit with blue stripes. This will be the seventh spacewalk in Artemyev’s career, and the third for Matveev. It will be the seventh spacewalk at the station in 2022 and the 252nd spacewalk for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
The free-floating Astrobee robots perform flight maneuvers with support from university ground teams and the astronauts aboard the space station on December 9, 2021. Credit: ESA/NASA
NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren set up Astrobee’s free-flying robots for a student robotics competition. For the competition, students write software to control one of the station’s Astrobee free-flying robots. Finalists have their code downloaded by NASA to the Astrobee platform and observe its performance.
NASA Flight Engineer Bob Hines made progress preparing and photographing sample returns for the Genes in Space-9 study, which evaluates how cell-free technology could be used in microgravity. The technology may provide a portable, low-resource, and low-cost tool with medical and monitoring applications for future space missions.
NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins continued to purge and take samples of carbon dioxide from the Thermal Amine Scrubber, which tests a technology for removing carbon dioxide from the station’s air. ESA (European Space Agency) Flight Engineer Samantha Cristoforetti spent time talking with students about life in space and other space-related topics. Watkins and Cristoforetti worked together to transfer cargo from the SpaceX CRS-25 Dragon spacecraft.
In the Russian segment of the station, Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos and Cosmonaut Denis Matveev were tasked with locating, photographing, and storing equipment and tools during a meeting with specialists. Cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov spent time replacing a carbon monoxide filter and sensor a part of a gas analyzer.
Astronauts (from left) Kjell Lindgren and Bob Hines are pictured monitoring the approach of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on May 20, 2022.
The Expedition 67 crew continued its ongoing human research today with ultrasound eye exams and blood flow measurements in the brain. The orbital residents also explored robotics and space navigation techniques.
Earlier, Hines completed a session that required him to wear electrodes and sensors that measured blood flow in his head and chest. The Cerebral Autoregulation investigation is exploring how the human brain regulates its blood flow in microgravity. Results may benefit astronauts who experience lightheadedness and a change in blood pressure after returning to Earth’s gravity.
Cristoforetti transferred the AstroPi computer from the Harmony module to the Columbus module during the morning. She then spent the afternoon checking out a robotics control system before terminating lithium-ion battery charging operations on pistol grip tools.
Commander Oleg Artemyev joined Flight Engineer Denis Matveev and spent Friday replacing components on the Zvezda service module’s treadmill vibration isolation system. Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov worked on two different Russian experiments on Friday, one exploring the cardiovascular system’s adaptation to microgravity and the other researching advanced Earth photography techniques.
The waning gibbous Moon is pictured above the Earth’s horizon from the International Space Station.
Life science, robotics and space construction kept the Expedition 66 crew busy aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday. The orbital residents also worked on spacesuits and inspected a Russian module.
Eye checks continued on the orbiting lab with NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn taking charge as crew medical officer during the afternoon. The three-time station astronaut used medical imaging gear, or optical coherence tomography, to scan the eyes and retinas of NASA Flight Engineers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari.
Marshburn began his day studying how to produce and maintain nutrients during long-term space missions. Chari later worked on communications components inside a pair of U.S. spacesuits. Barron started her morning cleaning the Cell Biology Experiment Facility, an incubator with an artificial gravity generator.
NASA Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei set up the free-flying Astrobee robotic assistants and tested an autonomous rendezvous algorithm for the ROAM technology demonstration. ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer resumed the Concrete Hardening experiment studying potential lunar and planetary construction techniques.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov photographed the condition of window panes in the Zvezda service module for inspection by engineers on the ground. Station Commander Anton Shkaplerov transferred water from tanks in the ISS Progress 79 resupply ship into the space station.
