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The three orbiting Expedition 53 crew members explored growing new lung tissue, foods that affect the immune system and microscopic particles suspended in liquids. Another trio of crew members is just a day away from launching to the International Space Station and beginning a five-and-a-half month stay in space. Over the weekend, the crew wrapped …

Lighting Effects: The crew completed a visual assessment test in the Crew Quarters (CQs) by setting the light to the correct mode, turning all other light sources in the CQ off, and performing one Numerical Verification Test and one Color Discrimination Test. The crew will then photograph the completed tests, before transferring the photos for downlink. …

MBSU I-Level Maintenance:  In early August, ground teams successfully transferred a degraded Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) from External Stowage Platform 2 (ESP2) site 4 to the JEM Airlock. Today, the crew removed the MBSU from the JEM A/L and performed Intermediate Level (I-Level) maintenance on the unit.  This MBSU is one of two failed …

Today’s science tasks included an inspection on an advanced microscope and readying a magnetic field experiment. The crew also worked on a failed electrical device that was robotically transferred to the Kibo laboratory module in early August. Commander Randy Bresnik and Flight Engineer Paolo Nespoli removed a failed Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU) from Kibo’s …

Venice Film Festival Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event:  Paolo Nespoli participated in a 20-minute ESA PAO event for the Venice Film Festival.  The documentary ‘Expedition’, which chronicles ESA Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli’s preparation for human space mission, will be presented at the Venice Film Festival on September 6th. This PAO event was a press conference …

A new set of Expedition 53 crew members arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site today ahead of their Sept. 12 liftoff to the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei along with cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will take a near six-hour ride to their new home in space aboard the Soyuz …

50 Soyuz (50S) Undock: 50S, with Peggy Whitson, Jack Fischer, and Fyodor Yurchikin onboard, undocked Saturday at 4:58 PM CDT and landed in Kazakhstan at 8:22 PM CDT. The ISS will be in 3-crew operations until the arrival of 52S on September 13. Electro-static Levitation Furnace (ELF) Inspection:  On Friday, the crew inspected the ELF …

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who set multiple U.S. space records during her mission aboard the International Space Station, along with crewmates Jack Fischer of NASA and Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos, safely landed on Earth Saturday at 9:21 p.m. EDT (7:21 a.m. Kazakhstan time, Sept. 3), southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. …

NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer of NASA, along with Expedition 52 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, undocked from the International Space Station at 5:58 p.m. EDT to begin their voyage home. Whitson spent 288 days in space on this mission, and Fischer and Yurchikhin each completed 136 days in …

At 2:41 p.m. EDT, the hatch closed between the Soyuz and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking. Expedition 52 crewmates Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer of NASA and Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos are scheduled to undock their Soyuz at 5:58 p.m. NASA Television will air live coverage of …