The Expedition 67 The crew continued to explore how humans and plants adapt in microgravity while testing robot-free kites on Wednesday. The orbital inhabitants are also preparing for another spacewalk at the International Space Station to continue equipping a new robotic arm.
NASA Flight Engineers Jessica Watkins and Bob Hines teamed up in the morning to explore how life in space affects agile manipulation† The duo took turns exchanging gripping and movement tasks during an hour-long session, sitting in a special chair in the Columbus laboratory module† Observations could give scientists a deeper understanding of the human nervous system and help engineers design intelligent spacecraft interfaces.
Then Watkins monitored the growth of mizuna vegetables and radishes for the XROOTS space botany study demonstrating soilless farming methods such as hydroponics and aeroponic techniques. Hines later activated a pair of toaster-sized Astrobee robotic free-flyers and watched as they navigated autonomously using smartphone technology inside the Kibo laboratory module†
NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren opened the Cell Biology Experiment Facility and maintain components in the biology research apparatus equipped with an artificial gravity-generating incubator. Lindgren then spent the afternoon documenting the amount of food stored aboard the revolving lab as part of a regularly scheduled audit.
The next spacewalk is expected to take place on July 21 at 10 a.m. EDT with Commander Oleg Artemyev from Roscosmos and Samantha Cristoforetti from ESA (European Space Agency). The pair spent Wednesday morning studying their spacewalks, maneuvers and safety procedures. Five-time spacewalker Artemyev will lead Cristoforetti on her first spacewalk to continue configuring the European robotic arm for operations during the scheduled seven-hour excursion.
Flight Engineer Denis Matveev assisted Artemyev with preparations for the afternoon spacewalk, collecting and inspecting tools planned for the upcoming excursion. Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov spent his day working on various electronic equipment and checking ventilation systems in the Nauka multifunctional laboratory module†
Read more about station activities through the . to follow space station blog† @space station and @ISS_Research on Twitter, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram bills.
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