Le module de laboratoire japonais Kibo est photographié alors que la station spatiale est en orbite au-dessus de l’océan Pacifique, au large de l’Amérique du Sud. Crédit : NASA
Les sept membres de l’équipage d’Expedition 67 attendront un jour de plus pour accueillir les premiers astronautes privés qui doivent s’envoler ce week-end vers la Station spatiale internationale. En attendant, les résidents orbitaux se sont concentrés aujourd’hui sur la recherche humaine et la physique, tout en se préparant à une paire de sorties dans l’espace dans le courant du mois.
Le lancement de la première mission d’astronautes privés, Axiom Space-1 (Ax-1), est maintenant prévu au plus tôt vendredi à 11 h 17 HAE depuis le Centre spatial Kennedy en Floride. Le SpaceX Dragon Endeavour, carrying Commander and former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, Pilot Larry Connor and Mission Specialists Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy, would dock Saturday at 6:45 a.m. to the Harmony module’s space-facing port. NASA TV, on the agency’s app and website, will begin its live launch broadcast at 10 a.m.
The four astronauts and three cosmonauts living in space continued their activities today supporting ongoing space science and maintaining space station operations. The crew juggled a variety of microgravity investigations, packed a U.S. cargo ship, and reviewed procedures for two spacewalks to outfit a new Russian module.
NASA Flight Engineer Kayla Barron opened up the Electrostatic Levitation Furnace on Monday and swapped samples inside the research device that studies thermophysical properties of high temperature materials. Flight Engineer Matthias Maurer of ESA (European Space Agency) imaged his veins and arteries using sensors and an ultrasound device to examine the changes to blood vessels and the heart that take place in weightlessness.
Station Commander Tom Marshburn and Flight Engineer Raja Chari, both from NASA, spent some time in the Cygnus space freighter transferring cargo. Marshburn then updated emergency procedures ahead of the Ax-1 mission and the upcoming SpaceX Crew-3/Crew-4 crew swap. Chari serviced science freezers, checked components on an oxygen generator, then inspected the COLBERT treadmill.
Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev are getting ready for two spacewalks currently targeted for April 18 and 28. The duo is reviewing procedures to exit the Poisk module in their Orlan spacesuits and prepare Russia’s Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for the European Robotic Arm. Cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov set up the EarthKAM experiment in the Harmony module to allow students on Earth to program the camera and photograph landmarks on the ground.