Blogs

When astronauts come home in Orion from deep-space missions, they’ll need a strategy for a safe and efficient exit. At NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, teams performed a series of tests Oct. 6-8 to evaluate the most efficient way for astronauts to get out of the spacecraft after …

The crew continued more biomedical studies today so scientists can learn how long-term missions affect humans in space. The International Space Station residents also reviewed procedures for a pair of upcoming spacewalks and conducted an emergency training session. Commander Scott Kelly joined his fellow One-Year crew member Mikhail Kornienko and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui for …

Ocular Health:  One year crewmembers Kelly and Kornienko initiated their Flight Day 210 Ocular Health testing by completing vision and tonometry tests and taking blood pressure measurements with the assistance of Yui.  The Ocular Health protocol calls for a systematic gathering of physiological data to characterize the risk of microgravity-induced visual impairment/intracranial pressure in ISS …

Orionid meteors appear every year around this time when Earth travels through an area of space littered with debris from Halley’s Comet. This year the peak will occur on the night of Wednesday, Oct. 21 into the morning of Thursday, Oct. 22. “The Orionids will probably show weak activity this year,” says Bill Cooke of the …

Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Airlock Safing:  Today Kelly prepared the JEM Airlock for the return of NanoRack Cubesat Deployer 6 (NRCSD#6) from the exterior of the ISS to the JEM next week.  He pressurized the Airlock and performed a leak check.  Because Deployer #6 contains two unlaunched cubesats, he removed the Lamp Housing Assembly from …

International Space Station Commander Scott Kelly set a new record today becoming the NASA astronaut with the most cumulative days in space, 383 days and counting. Mike Fincke, a two-time space station resident, was the previous record holder at 382 days. Kelly is scheduled to return to Earth on March 2, 2016, for a total …

Plant Gravity Sensing 2 (PGS2) Run 1:  Following up on Lindgren’s treatment yesterday of the growing plants with a chemical reagent that induces a bioluminescence response, today Yui removed the reagent with an absorbent and placed them in a Photon Counting Unit (PCU).  Photon measurements will be taken over the next 24 hours.  Lindgren noted …

The Expedition 45 residents worked on biomedical experiments Thursday observing how humans adapt to long-term missions in space. A pair of NASA astronauts is also getting ready for two upcoming spacewalks outside the International Space Station. Commander Scott Kelly joined Flight Engineers Kjell Lindgren, Kimiya Yui and Oleg Kononenko for eye exams throughout the day …

In two weeks, NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren will step outside the U.S. Quest airlock for the first of two maintenance spacewalks. The International Space Station is also being readied to host the next Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo mission set for early December. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui has been servicing the two spacesuits …

Plant Gravity Sensing 2 (PGS2): Today Lindgren retrieved culture dishes from a Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) and treated the plants growing in them with a chemical reagent that induces a bioluminescence response that is dependent on the concentration of calcium ions in the plants.  The Plant calcium concentrations have been …