Space medicine, spacesuits, and eye checks filled the schedule aboard the International Space Station on Thursday. Cargo operations and life support maintenance rounded out the day as the Expedition 72 crew awaits the departure of four crewmates.
Scientists are continually using the orbiting lab’s microgravity environment to explore new phenomena not possible on Earth to promote industry and human health. Thursday’s space research explored ways to improve treatments for patients on Earth and keep astronauts healthy on long-term missions.
NASA Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore serviced samples and observed how fluids flow using capillary force to understand how liquid drugs are transported in the lungs. Results may benefit the health care and food industries with improved respiratory therapies and better contamination prevention techniques.
NASA Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick and Don Pettit worked on advanced research gear ensuring it remains operable for high-quality results. Dominick organized the hardware inside the BioServe centrifuge that supports a range of science from DNA studies, to materials research, and more in space. Pettit replaced cables on the Cell Biology Experiment Facility, an incubator with an artificial gravity generator. Pettit also collected and stowed his urine samples in a science freezer for later analysis. He finally joined Flight Engineer Nick Hague for eye exams using medical imaging gear with assistance from doctors on the ground. Hague earlier relocated air sensors from the Destiny laboratory module to the Tranquility module.
Lab maintenance is also key aboard the orbital outpost to ensure ongoing science operations and healthy crews. Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Jeanette Epps, both NASA astronauts, serviced thermal systems and orbital plumbing components, while also organizing food stowed in the Unity module. NASA Flight Engineer Mike Barratt spent his shift in the Quest airlock dumping and filling spacesuit water tanks then cleaning Quest’s smoke detectors.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner completed his 24-hour heart monitoring session on Thursday and handed over the sensors to Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin so he could record his heart rate. Vagner also swapped out orbital plumbing gear in the Nauka science module while Ovchinin replaced hydraulic pumps in the Zvezda service module. Flight Engineer Alexander Grebenkin continued photographing crew activities for documentation while Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov jogged on a treadmill for a regularly schedule fitness evaluation.
NASA and SpaceX mission managers continue monitoring weather conditions off the coast of Florida and are now targeting no earlier than 3:05 a.m. EDT on Sunday for the undocking of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission aboard Dragon Endeavour.
Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.
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